What to do with spam in your Private Message folder

[Catherine_T]

Hey Community,

We’ve heard that some of you have received spam in your Private Message folder on the Community. The team has put great effort into filtering out spam messages, but in the case you do receive one, here’s what to do:

1. DO NOT click on any links within the message

2. Report the message

3. Delete the message

Note that you do not need to submit a ticket. Our Moderator team will be taking immediate action and banning users sending the spam messages upon reporting.

Your safety and security is top priority for us. We are investigating additional ways to help limit these instances. Please help us by staying vigilant and reporting any suspicious activity on the Community. 

- The Public Mobile Team

[dougc]

Just received notification of a contest for a  Iphone12 using the PM private messaging ,     via email.

Yeah  right !   LoL

Of course came here to chk message,   instead of cliking on any links within the notification regards the offer to enter.

Also reviewed the report process made earlier on this thread  !  

Message originated from a   dimple***   and  according to their activity counter  has never posted on the forum.  

Deleted both the message within email account and here.

[JLakerson]

I definitely noticed an apparent increase in spam messages within the last few weeks. In one week, I received about 4 spam messages. Glad to see that PM is aware of the situation and informing PM customers about the steps to take if they receive one. I definitely hope that they are able to take the suggestion of limiting what an individual can do with their Community account if they are not a PM customer (not being able to send out private messages). That would definitely help quite a bit as the accounts of these spammers would normally be created the same day the message was sent. 

[kb_mv]

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@darlicious 

This is another test. Please disregard.

A link.
"Good Luck!" 
A short friendly message.
Howdy!
iPhone 12

[kb_mv]

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@darlicious This is just a test to see if I can trigger the spam filter. 

https://widget.telus.tiia.ai/publicmobile/publicmobile.html

"Good Luck!" A short friendly message. Howdy! iPhone 12.

[RM4]

@softech 

You have your thinking cap on!  Great ideas on reducing the spam problem. 

[sa7375]

Good suggestions, @softech. 👌

These are the minimal and essential, and something on those lines should be implemented ASAP. 

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@softech wrote:

hope PM would do something to the spammer.. like deactivate the account..

i understand they can always setup a new one.. maybe the system should post some limitation..

1. like if Community account not link with any PM account, no direct email to people other than moderators .. or other than replying..  

2. or if new Community account setup less than  a month, max of 5 private messages daily

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[AE_Collector]

@Triguy 

I didnt even do that, just sent it. Already received a message back confirming receipt of the report.

It’s a predicament for sure. Anyone can join up here and start spamming members. They could limit membership here to PM customers only (who could STILL spam other members but not as likely) but that kills the ability of potential customers to check PM out here and get answers to questions.

AE_Collector

[Triguy]

@AE_Collector 

In the box just type spam email to send notification to a moderator.

[Anonymous]

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@bigmouth2015 wrote:

my parents and some of my other PM friends have received spams in their inbox recently.  How is possible that a spammer get all their emails?

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 @bigmouth2015 

There are a couple things involved here.

1. anybody can sign up to the community and they can send private messages to whoever else in the community using all the usernames they can see. Those usernames are visible  in three places plus posts in threads.

2. by default, community settings have it that an email notification goes to the email address that we all have registered with the community account. That can be turned off along with other things. The content of the message is not included in that email notification. Just username and subject. I would suggest not calling that spam in your own email system whatever you use. But do as already mentioned in your private message system here in the community.

Telus/Public Mobile do somewhat often send marketing stuff. ie. the health stuff that Telus is trying to flog and you likely saw the email from PM telling you about the gifts and draw among others over time.

[AE_Collector]

@Triguy 

Yes I know, I came here to this topic, read the first post, clicked the report button in my messages area.... but as I mentioned, that opens a text box that isn't mentioned in the instructions. Thus I Listed off all the things that sending this “report” makes me consider before finishing. In the end since no additional instructions about the box were mentioned I did nothing additional.

AE_Collector

[Triguy]

@AE_Collector 

Hey Community,

We’ve heard that some of you have received spam in your Private Message folder on the Community. The team has put great effort into filtering out spam messages, but in the case you do receive one, here’s what to do:

1. DO NOT click on any links within the message

2. Report the message

3. Delete the message

Note that you do not need to submit a ticket. Our Moderator team will be taking immediate action and banning users sending the spam messages upon reporting.

Your safety and security is top priority for us. We are investigating additional ways to help limit these instances. Please help us by staying vigilant and reporting any suspicious activity on the Community. 

- The Public Mobile Team

[kb_mv]

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@bigmouth2015 wrote:

my parents and some of my other PM friends have received spams in their inbox recently.  How is possible that a spammer get all their emails?

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@bigmouth2015 If they received messages in their PM inbox, they are not emails, they are private messages. See my reply above. If they are receiving span in their "real" email accounts, that isn't a Public Mobile problem.

[bigmouth2015]

my parents and some of my other PM friends have received spams in their inbox recently.  How is possible that a spammer get all their emails?

[kb_mv]

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@bigmouth2015 wrote:

I thought our inbox is secure and private.  Only able to receive and send messages between us and the moderator.  How could we receive spam or phishing emails?  What's our email in publicmobile community forum?  Does it mean publicmobile has been hacked and our community emails have been exposed?

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@bigmouth2015 You can go into your PM's and send a message to any other user that is registered. Nothing has been hacked. I have sent and received messages to and from other users. Anyone that registers an account can send messages.

[bigmouth2015]

I thought our inbox is secure and private.  Only able to receive and send messages between us and the moderator.  How could we receive spam or phishing emails?  What's our email in publicmobile community forum?  Does it mean publicmobile has been hacked and our community emails have been exposed?

[AE_Collector]

I just got my first ever spam message so I came here to see what to do.

Of course I am almost always confused by things like the report button. (I know, I always Overthink things) Clicking the Report buttton opens a box with a field to type in that leaves me wondering:

-Am I supposed to type in instructions here?

-Am I supposed to put Moderator_Team here?

-Am I supposed to copy and paste the spam message here?

In the end I just clicked send without anything else which I think is correct. My best guess this box is if there is any additional info you wish to give along with the report. This box could easily be pre-populated with that exact instruction.

AE_Collector 

[nolongholds]

OK thanks I did as you folks mentioned.  I wasn't sure it was safe to open the link. I reported it.

[Anonymous]

 @nolongholds : It sounds like you're just looking at your private message inbox list. To actually open the message you need to click on the subject line. Then you'll see what the above image shows. Don't worry about opening it.

[kb_mv]

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@nolongholds wrote:

Hi,

I opened the spam email but don't seem to have Report  or Delete and Reply in the message I received about a free iphone.   There is a link under the header of the spam email that starts with "Do you want your reward....."  but I'm not about to click on that to see if I get the options to report and delete.    How do I Report and Delete this email as I can't get it out of my inbox.

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@nolongholds You do need to open the message in your inbox. Just don't click on links after that.

 

[nolongholds]

Hi,

I opened the spam email but don't seem to have Report  or Delete and Reply in the message I received about a free iphone.   There is a link under the header of the spam email that starts with "Do you want your reward....."  but I'm not about to click on that to see if I get the options to report and delete.    How do I Report and Delete this email as I can't get it out of my inbox.

[Yasehtor]

Just a suggestion from a newbie... perhaps highlighting the Report button like the other buttons on an email will make it easier for people to see and use.   I really didn't see it at first but did find it after I read where it was.  

[Yasehtor]

@cavemantoronto :  Oh.. I know you are right... spam is like taxes.... always there.

[cavemantoronto]

@Yasehtor Spam will never be gone for good.. Aniother spammer will come along. Ignore them and don't allow them to make money.

[Yasehtor]

Let's hope the spam is gone for good!

[saeliux]

Hah i feel dumb, for a minute, I thought I really won an iphone since public was giving stuff away. Thanks for the instructions, I reported 5 different spam accounts. 

[fujiyama]

Thanks for this, it's nice to have an official guideline for everyone to follow. 

I got some spam before but I simply deleted those... Will Report, Ignore and Delete the one I just got 😈

[Taddy_B]

Thanks for the heads up! I got one today and have reported and deleted. 🙂

[softech]

hope PM would do something to the spammer.. like deactivate the account..

i understand they can always setup a new one.. maybe the system should post some limitation..

1. like if Community account not link with any PM account, no direct email to people other than moderators .. or other than replying..  

2. or if new Community account setup less than  a month, max of 5 private messages daily

[sunflowershine]

Good to know!

[rollie]

I see when looking at the e-mail addresses for PM and community they are the same The only difference is in my passcodes user name. Any way the information in the e-mail I received had no place to go to, gave an unavailable response.