Getting spammed by AutoHotkey

Discuss issues and requests related with the forum software
Swannie
Posts: 30
Joined: 02 Feb 2016, 13:24

Getting spammed by AutoHotkey

01 Nov 2018, 00:44

Since last night (01h00) till 06h15 this morning, i received 67 emails informing me i have been quoted by various members. YET, no such topics exists !!

I am NOT supposed to receive ANY notification at all as NO box is ticked regarding notification.

It is not only VERY annoying, but all these emails are depleting my prepaid data.

PLEASE rectify this problem immediately - and if not, i have no other option than to delete my account.
Swannie
Posts: 30
Joined: 02 Feb 2016, 13:24

Re: Getting spammed by AutoHotkey

01 Nov 2018, 00:56

In the last 10 minutes, i received 23 more emails
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cybermcm
Posts: 4
Joined: 09 Mar 2015, 11:32

Re: Getting spammed by AutoHotkey

01 Nov 2018, 01:03

85 mails, getting spammed too :-(
lexikos
Posts: 9552
Joined: 30 Sep 2013, 04:07
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Re: Getting spammed by AutoHotkey

01 Nov 2018, 01:56

I deleted some spam a few hours ago that contained hundreds of quotes. This would have generated notifications.

As for receiving emails when one has not enabled email notifications, I don't know. I have never received any emails from AutoHotkey.
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JoeWinograd
Posts: 2177
Joined: 10 Feb 2014, 20:00
Location: U.S. Central Time Zone

Re: Getting spammed by AutoHotkey

01 Nov 2018, 03:39

Same here. I received 107 emails in the last 8 hours or so that say:
You are receiving this notification because "XXXXX" quoted you in the topic "YYYYY" at "AutoHotkey Community". You can use the following link to view the reply made.

If you want to view the quoted post, click the following link:
The XXXXX and YYYYY vary, but for all the ones that I have checked (several), none is for a topic in which I was really quoted. In fact, clicking the link to view the quoted post always produces, "The requested topic does not exist." That makes perfect sense, as I've never posted in any of those topics! Regards, Joe
Swannie
Posts: 30
Joined: 02 Feb 2016, 13:24

Re: Getting spammed by AutoHotkey

01 Nov 2018, 03:45

Thnx for your help Lexikos - seems like the spamming has stopped now as i have not received any during the past 2 hours.

Apologies: I have had ONE topic to which i would have been notified, although i cancelled that notification after the very first two spamming emails, but apparently to no avail.
gregster
Posts: 8916
Joined: 30 Sep 2013, 06:48

Re: Getting spammed by AutoHotkey

01 Nov 2018, 03:46

Joe, the quotes in the (now deleted) spam posts were all empty (or perhaps contained a linefeed or something) but still referenced users, I have seen some of them - and of course, you can "quote" someone in a thread that he has never posted in (and you can modify the quote text)... that's what happened here. Hundreds of people were "quoted" this way in one post... well, not exactly one, but several of them (or dozens).
enteleform
Posts: 7
Joined: 26 Feb 2016, 01:14
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Re: Getting spammed by AutoHotkey

01 Nov 2018, 04:22

Same issue here. I received about 40 emails between midnight & 2AM.
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Lateralus138
Posts: 49
Joined: 30 Aug 2015, 20:52
Location: Decatur, IL.
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Re: Getting spammed by AutoHotkey

01 Nov 2018, 07:07

Same issue for me... Just chiming in. I've got around the same amount of emails. Just stopped in to see if this was only me or others as well and I've found my answer. :D

K̴̡̛̻̮̼͕̬̑̋̀̂͆͛̍̑͢ȩ̮̞͍̩̯̋̈͒͌̕ę̶͓̗͖͔̹̪͗̂̈͛̓͘p̠͉̙̟̒̊͌̐͘͘͟͡͞ S̸͖̖̮̞̥͇̖̓̌͛̽̿̓̊̓̾̚͜w͇̮͓̱͇̘̯͆̓͑̋̇̉͜͝i̢͔̝̳̻̱̋̾͐̾͗͊̀̕͜͡͡n̷̡͔̦̤̝̼̩̎͌̈́̀͛̄͆̎͠ǵ̸̘̝̭̦̠̗͖͌͐͑̑̿̅̈͜͜ḯ̡̬̥̙̩̼̪̑͆̿̌́n̛̼͎̲̬͇̲͉̗̞͊̓̃̂̈͝g̸͕̜͖̪͉͔̩̓̃̀̃͌̑̋̕͘.̪̜̜̜̯̂͂̈́͛̆͗̇̍̇.̟͔͍̙̜̫̗̂̿͛͋͋̈́̾̾̿͑.̡̣̟̝̭͉̦̪́̓̀͛̑̓̐̈͘͘

Swannie
Posts: 30
Joined: 02 Feb 2016, 13:24

Re: Getting spammed by AutoHotkey

01 Nov 2018, 08:35

What worries me, is ,even if it`s a member of this Forum - how did they pull it off ?....or...was the Forum hacked ?

I had some very harsh words to the Forum last night when i had to switch off my phone to get some sleep and then when i used my laptop this morning and got all those emails again. At least i could mark them as SPAM on my laptop, but not on the phone. First i got a talking sms notification and then the email.Nothing i tried on the phone to stop it, worked.

Sometimes i really wish i had the knowledge to write some real nasty viruses and then send them to people who deliberately misuse their programming skills for bad intentions and purposes.
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Nextron
Posts: 1391
Joined: 01 Oct 2013, 08:23
Location: Netherlands OS: Win10 AHK: Unicode x32

Re: Getting spammed by AutoHotkey

01 Nov 2018, 09:21

Swannie wrote:
01 Nov 2018, 08:35
What worries me, is ,even if it`s a member of this Forum - how did they pull it off ?....or...was the Forum hacked ?
Being a members of the forum doesn't raise the bar that much. Dozens of new spam accounts are banned each day. Furthermore, it wasn't a hack, but a misuse of a forum feature that everybody can enable or disable for themselves: If you are quoted in a reply, you get a notification. However, a malicious user can just add quote tags to a reply and fill in user ID's manually and repeat that for hundreds of ID's. Then all those users will get notified.
Swannie
Posts: 30
Joined: 02 Feb 2016, 13:24

Re: Getting spammed by AutoHotkey

01 Nov 2018, 10:37

Nextron wrote:
01 Nov 2018, 09:21
Swannie wrote:
01 Nov 2018, 08:35
What worries me, is ,even if it`s a member of this Forum - how did they pull it off ?....or...was the Forum hacked ?
Being a members of the forum doesn't raise the bar that much. Dozens of new spam accounts are banned each day. Furthermore, it wasn't a hack, but a misuse of a forum feature that everybody can enable or disable for themselves: If you are quoted in a reply, you get a notification. However, a malicious user can just add quote tags to a reply and fill in user ID's manually and repeat that for hundreds of ID's. Then all those users will get notified.
Velen danken ! Ik kon het niet bergrijp. Nou week ek hoe dit werk.
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JoeWinograd
Posts: 2177
Joined: 10 Feb 2014, 20:00
Location: U.S. Central Time Zone

Re: Getting spammed by AutoHotkey

01 Nov 2018, 12:01

Thanks for the comment, gregster, and to everyone else who jumped in. All was fine with this morning's emails...no spam! Regards, Joe
joefiesta
Posts: 494
Joined: 24 Jan 2016, 13:54
Location: Pa., USA

Re: Getting spammed by AutoHotkey

01 Nov 2018, 14:41

I am still getting spammed. I never reported it, assuming everyone was getting spammed.

I would like to see answers to: (1) is everyone getting spammed? (2) is there something I can do with my account to not get spammed? (3) should I be reporting this and if so, how?
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Nextron
Posts: 1391
Joined: 01 Oct 2013, 08:23
Location: Netherlands OS: Win10 AHK: Unicode x32

Re: Getting spammed by AutoHotkey

01 Nov 2018, 15:39

joefiesta wrote:
01 Nov 2018, 14:41
I am still getting spammed. I never reported it, assuming everyone was getting spammed.

I would like to see answers to: (1) is everyone getting spammed? (2) is there something I can do with my account to not get spammed? (3) should I be reporting this and if so, how?
1: I'm not receiving any excessive amounts.
2: You can disable e-mail notifications from the user control panel.
3: This is a good a place as any. It would help if you provided more detail. Are the notifications about private messages, subscribed topics, quotes? What amount of e-mails are you talking about? Is there a username in the e-mail that triggered the notification? What's the sent time of the most recent e-mail (not receive time)?
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JoeWinograd
Posts: 2177
Joined: 10 Feb 2014, 20:00
Location: U.S. Central Time Zone

Re: Getting spammed by AutoHotkey

01 Nov 2018, 16:45

joefiesta wrote:
01 Nov 2018, 14:41
assuming everyone was getting spammed
All spam stopped here about 16 hours ago. I'm getting emails, but only those for which I've signed up, i.e., email activity is normal. Regards, Joe
joefiesta
Posts: 494
Joined: 24 Jan 2016, 13:54
Location: Pa., USA

Re: Getting spammed by AutoHotkey

01 Nov 2018, 17:45

Maybe it's not really spam. I receive an email such as the following:

[[indent=]quoteHello joefiesta,

You are receiving this notification because "Ufs" quoted you in the topic
"CapsLock to Ctrl while pressed" at "AutoHotkey Community". You can use the
following link to view the reply made.

If you want to view the quoted post, click the following link:
viewtopic.php?p=247180#p247180

If you want to view the topic, click the following link:
viewtopic.php?f=76&t=58719

][/quote][/indent]

When i view the first link ("to view the quoted post"), I am directed to an Informational bulletin board message that says: The requested topic does not exist.

The 2nd link ("to view the topic") DOES work fine.

I was assuming this is spam. Now I think something's broken. I THINK I am signed up to receive notification about all new posts to a few forums.

(The preview is a mess. tried to make it more readable. But, not an expert at indenting and quoting here.)
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Nextron
Posts: 1391
Joined: 01 Oct 2013, 08:23
Location: Netherlands OS: Win10 AHK: Unicode x32

Re: Getting spammed by AutoHotkey

01 Nov 2018, 18:23

Ufs caused the mail flood but was banned 19 hours ago, so it should not trigger new notifications. That's why it's relevant to know when you received the last e-mail (in bulk), when it was actually sent and the link it includes.

Of course it is still possible you receive notification e-mails, but it shouldn't be mass amounts by a single user.
joefiesta
Posts: 494
Joined: 24 Jan 2016, 13:54
Location: Pa., USA

Re: Getting spammed by AutoHotkey

02 Nov 2018, 08:45

@Nextron

You missed my point. Yes, I am not being flooded. And, yes, the emails are all from different people. so, I'm not being spammed.

But, each email tells my someone has quoted me. They have not. And each email contains a link supposedly pointly to the quoted post. But, the link is dead.

I have the choice to receive emails when someone quotes me selected. I don't know if that is the default. I am going to turn it off and see what happens.

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