Getting phishing emails from G2G questions

Question

Is anyone else getting phishing emails from comments you have made on G2G???  I have received about 6 now over the last couple of weeks.  Most have been about buying Cialis.  When I go to the G2G feed directly for the topic mentioned, I don't see the comments there.  The one this morning came through on "Have you registered for the 2020 Connect-a-Thon yet? as the topic.

They obviously got my info from Wikitree as they use my Wikitree ID and my email.  How can I stop this?

Answer 1

Hi Carolyn,

Those are spam posts. Since they were posted as comments, and you had posted a comment, you got the email alert (along with many others). I apologize.

As our moderators often do, Emma MacBeath spotted and hid this message soon after it was posted. It's now been deleted. But the email alerts were sent.

We are probably going to end non-member posting in G2G. This will reduce the spam problem significantly.

Chris

Comments

Thanks, Chris.  I figured admin was probably aware of it, but hadn't seen anyone comment on what was going on.  Appreciate your quick response..

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And just to clarify, those spammers don't have access to your email address. As Chris indicated, the WikiTree G2G system sends an alert based on participation in a particular G2G thread.

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Thanks for clarifying that, Rick.

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As you may see, we have now turned off anonymous posting in G2G: https://www.wikitree.com/g2g/1077250/did-you-see-that-only-members-can-now-post-in-g2g

Answer 2

Carolyn: Thank you so much for bringing up this issue.

Chris: Thank you for the explanation. I realize that whether or not to allow non-members to post in G2G is a serious question. There are certainly advantages and disadvantages. I support ending non-member posting in G2G so that members do not receive spam email messages.

Comments

I agree, Anne and Chris.  I was a bit surprised that Wikitree allowed non-members to participate in G2G. I wasn't aware of that, but I definitely think that should end. They can look around, but I think they need to sign up and agree to the honor code if they want to participate in any way on Wikitree.

Answer 3

I can say I've been proud to flag two such types of ads in the last few weeks.  One was the first and some one followed me within a minute and it disappeared.  The other one I made disappear with my flag, apparently.  We early birds seem to be the keepers of the watch to some degree.  However, in my case they are entered as G2G questions, not as a comment to another question.  And sexual pills seem to be a common thread.