Scammers and Spammers

Spam is the Internet equivalent of junk mail ‐ email you didn't ask for, and probably don't want. It's sent by spammers, usually using automated tools. Freecycle members will often have their own spam filters to detect and remove ‐ that's up to them. This answer just talks about what you can do as a moderator to reduce the chance of your Freecycle group being used for spam.

Spammers attack Freecycle groups in the following ways:

1. Sending spam to the group, from their own account
2. Spoofing another member.
3. Harvesting member addresses.
4. Posting seemingly innocuous messages that require going to a third-party website
   

You can combat spam in the following ways:

• Moderate new members until they have posted a valid OFFER. Many spammers join a group and immediately send a message ‐ if you moderate new members then the spam will show up in your Pending queue. Don't reply to it, just delete it ‐ replying to spam just tells the spammer that they've reached a human, which is what they're trying to do.
• Keep an eye on your ModSquad to be alerted to the most recent scams.

If you think a member should be removed from The Freecycle Network for sending spam or for sending scam attempts, you can email (with as much detail as possible) spamcontrol@freecycle.org. The admin team will review your message and remove the user if they agree it is right to do so.

When reporting a Spammer send an email to spamcontrol@freecycle.org and add these five things:

1. The spammer's MyF User Name
2. The spammer's MyF email address
3. The reason (e.g. iPod scammer)
4. The post ID.
5. Your group ID (name and number, please), which is found on your group's Info and Options page.