Private Messages ALERT

What did his log-in show? He has to be logged into the site to leave a PM.

I just received the same email

I got it too

Chani,

Unfortunately, I don't think the webmaster monitors the forum on the weekends, and I have noticed that most spam and advertisements on the forum are posted on the weekends.
I hate this kind of stuff!

I just googled this name. A site called Fraud Watch came up. He is a 4 star General serving in the European Theater. His picture and name have been used before for other scams!!

Is any of you going to answer Franks question? I'm curious too.

I got it too and deleted the message!

Rick Steves needs to be aware this is happening on his website.

Yeah, he's not just an officer. He's the Supreme Allied Commander in Europe. If he needs help I don't think he needs us little folk on the RS forum!

Interesting! Thanks for the heads' up and research. Wonder if Gen. Scaparrotti knows his name is being used? I would assume so since it is listed on a fraud watch.

The General could be having trouble deciding which Rick Steves tour to sign up for.

(please do not believe this and answer the email)

I got the email and reported it. Seemed inappropriate.

Getting a bit offended that s/he/it didn't message me!

Maybe he wants to know if he can wear shorts.

Maybe he wants to know if he can wear shorts.
😀

Funny, when I read his PM, I hear it in a Russian accent.

Or maybe he wants to know if he should buy a Eurail Pass from the RailEurope website!

He wants to use his credit card to get cash out of a foreign ATM; but, doesn't know if that has any drawbacks.

Since he's SACEUR, won't they take his dollars?

His English needs some serious work.

I got it too and I reported it.

I'm feeling totally left out because I didn't get a PM.

Well, don't feel too bad, you can see all the spam now being posted.

This forum now has this stuff happening regularly, always over the weekends when there's no staff available. It probably will continue to get worse as long as they ignore it.

Wow, SPAM PM's on the RS forum. This is certainly unprecedented. I'm sure the Webmaster will take care of it tomorrow morning.

Spam/scam messages aren't unusual on any travel site that has a PM function; I've gotten the "Military officer" version several times before on a different site. As has already been wisely done, just report the scoundrel to the webmaster for deletion.

It is a little unfortunate that there isn't a moderator on duty over weekends to quickly wipe stuff like this, especially when their junk populates the main topic page as I see a spammer did a few hours ago.

YUp. Got it too. Sad that some people have this much time on their hands

Trouble is, with spam PMs like the one above, is that it's not a "time on the hands" thing. 99.9% of the time they're an opening for a scam. That's why they always request contact via their private email: they want YOUR personal email address so they can try and scam you outside of the site, or use your address for any number of nasty purposes. The really sad thing is that there are people naive enough to give that info to them. They figure oh gosh, there are no evil scoundrels on a perfectly legitimate site like ___, right? Wrong.

Helping good folk avoid the trap is why forums like RS provide safe messaging: so that you can communicate with community members without ever having to reveal sensitive, personal information, like your email address, to a stranger.

So if you get another odd PM from anyone* - especially a new joiner - requesting a response via their personal email, do NOT respond in any way; report them immediately.

The one exception (starred *) would be exchanging some private info with regular posters you've come to know well over a long period of time.

I must be special--I received 2 messages from Curtis.

Well, they haven't given up. I just now got my own special private message from "Mike."

Persistant little devil, isn't he (if it even is a "he")?

Well, I don’t feel so left out. I’ve finally gotten my 2 messages too!

Hi all! I just wanted to pop in and say that we're definitely aware of this spam and we really appreciate everyone who has reported it. We're working to find a fix on the technical side of the forum system to keep these types of messages to an absolute minimum (if they get through at all), though it may take a little bit to ensure the filters are working properly.

Clicking on the message itself within our private message system won't open you up to any harm (we don't allow files to be attached to PMs for this reason), but definitely don't click on any links from an unknown sender who seems suspicious!

Ya'll rock, Dana! 👍

I received my message today from the general. It showed up in my email and said he had a business proposal for me. The message said to check my PM on the forum,, but there was no PM there. Very strange indeed.

I also got he business proposal email and pm. Reported it

The message said to check my PM on the forum,, but there was no PM
there.

Lisa, the poster and their messages could have been deleted by the time you got to your PMs.

Lisa and Kathy,
When I tried to open it to delete it all I got was a blank screen. The RS tech people said that was because the poster had been banned and no message would appear. Hope this gives some clarification.

Got it, thanks.