Are You Being Spammed? I was!

[Colleen Gray, The Boomers' VA]

 

I post a lot on Twitter, well more then some and less then others I guess. Yesterday I noticed in my email that all of a sudden I had a rash of followers coming on board.

I also like to re-tweet for others when their topic is helpful or interesting, and it brings more attention to them. I've noticed the more I do this the more followers I generally pick up. That's great as on Twitter I personally like an array of knowledge coming through my feed. I don't necessarily try to pin it down to my niche market. Some may think that is good and some may thing it is bad; it's just the way I personally like it.

Anyway, due to this rash of followers I seemed to get yesterday I went into my account and check out those who had followed. To my surprise all but 1 were spammers - and not nice ones to say the least. I guess I was surprised as this was the first time I received so many of these at one time. Needless to say, I had a great time blocking them and hitting spam on them. (There is usually a way on most of the reputable social sites to notify the network that it is spam and/or delete or block them.)

This prompted me to go into Twitter's advanced search and enter some criteria which included re-tweets along with a main search word of Google. I now see how easy it is for spammers to pick new targets and something tells me that they may have software that actually automates it for them (though that's just a guess on my part).

The reason I'm pointing all this out is so that no matter what account you have, when someone friends you, follows you, or whatever that site wants to call it - please click on their name and check them out. Most all of the social networks allow you to, at the very least, see their profiles and current activity. See if they appear to be a real person that you want following you, because remember, (generally speaking) when you post on your feed it shows up on theirs. Choose wisely where you want your tweets and comments to show up.

Also, as just a little helpful hint, if you have a Google Account and haven't changed your password lately - do so now. (Google accounts include Youtube, Gmail, profiles, places, etc...) They were having their own set of issues!  More Info Here

If you have any questions with your accounts being spammed, give me a yell!

[Colleen Gray, The Boomers' VA]

Karl, Glad they couldn't get any further. You have to wonder who and why they seem to be trying to attach Google. Curious. I'm sure Google will be stepping up their security as tight as they can.

[Colleen Gray, The Boomers' VA]

Jules, Definitely block them when you see that on Twitter if nothing else. Remember your tweets appear on their pages. The ones I checked out actually had hundreds of followers - no original tweets among a couple of other issues I'll tell ya about some time.

[Colleen Gray, The Boomers' VA]

Natasha - yes another good tip - Never click the link. You just don't know what they are attempting to do. Thanks for that!

[Colleen Gray, The Boomers' VA]

Olga, these things can also occur on LinkedIn - if you are are there - so always check them out!

[Colleen Gray, The Boomers' VA]

Thanks Karl for the tip! I hadn't seen that one going around.

Angela, with four accounts I'm sure you have received your fair share of spamming... Click block, click spam! They know they shouldn't be doing that.

Thanks for everyone's tips and info!

[Brenda Priest]

sharing this information is invaluable, not fun but important to talk about! We all have been spammed at one point or another.

[Debby Bruck Homeopath]

Hi Colleen. You are absolutely correct. Do not automatically follow, nor shall you open any links in the DMs. Thank you for reminder to advanced Tweeps, and intro to newbies. Check your followers and block spammers. My Spam Blog #spam 

[Terri Voltz]

Today I began receiving many RT and spam on my Twitter. I noticed that I was "following" a spammer. I never follow anyone without checking their profile first so I assume my Twitter account was compromised. I changed my password and reported the spammer. It sounds like others may have had similar occurrences.

[Colleen Gray, The Boomers' VA]

Thanks for the additional information ladies. I'll have to check and make sure I'm not following a spammer also. I am generally pretty careful but that doesn't mean one didn't slip by me. I've had to change my password several times as I was always getting those phishing prompts to re-enter my password while I was in Twitter.

[Annie Freed]

Great Post Colleen! Thanks for sharing.