A WEBSITE FOR EXPATS, BY EXPATS

Strong in you the force is!

Let's start a sticky thread on all the police work being done every day. Not much else to read in here these days. Good thing we are being protected!!! In all my years in here I have never had the problem it seems some have had with these viscious scamers. Good to see someone enjoys the reports. They must have a very boring life.

Time to put the vitriol bottle down chum and don't forget to take your tablets - after a little sleep 🤣

Fred wrote:

Julien wrote:

We received too many complains these last weeks about locals systematically hijacking treads, posting ads

Some are sneaky little buggers.
Just nabbed one posing as  an American wanting to learn Vietnamese and her pal posing as someone who knows Americans using a given language school.

They treat potential customers as idiots so I suspect the rest of their attitude to customers is likely to be as bad.

Just like the real estate agent trying a different approach by saying "Hi", and you said my reply was a bit harsh because I knew what she was up to.

colinoscapee wrote:

Fred wrote:

Julien wrote:

We received too many complains these last weeks about locals systematically hijacking treads, posting ads

Some are sneaky little buggers.
Just nabbed one posing as  an American wanting to learn Vietnamese and her pal posing as someone who knows Americans using a given language school.

They treat potential customers as idiots so I suspect the rest of their attitude to customers is likely to be as bad.

Just like the real estate agent trying a different approach by saying "Hi", and you said my reply was a bit harsh because I knew what she was up to.

I'm a very kind chap so I prefer to wait until they actually break the rules rather than carry out summary executions just in case they do.
What can I say? I'm an old softy as handsome as I am wonderful.

Maybe so. Living here in Vietnam you get a feel for how they work. Maybe because you dont reside here makes you unable to spot the obvious.

I'm great at spotting the obvious, and pretty ruddy good at finding well hidden scammers and advertisers.
I use the forum as a practice session for some other serious work, teaching myself all the tricks needed to find otherwise hidden information, piecing together the bits of the jigsaw until I see the full picture, or at least enough to do something about the target.
I'm getting dangerous good at it.

However, "Hi" doesn't break any rules so I can't remove posts or ban someone for that, even if there's a better than average chance they'll get up to something later.
It would be unfair and unreasonable.

True. But your comment that I was being harsh could have been held back. In the end she did exactly what most agents do.

Anyway keep up the good work Fred, and maybe next time dont jump in too quick until you see how things pan out.

phikachu wrote:

If you hired a decent developer (like me), you could set up a keyword filter to pick up posts for moderator review.

It's easy... pick up words mentioning accommodation, private message, any telephone numbers and the words refugees or reeducation camp.

Then rather than completely remove a comment... simply flag it in say red as this has marked as spam.... and hide it. But still giving anyone who wants to read it a chance to reveal the whole message.

Maybe someone writes useful info but also puts in a link to their services and contact details....so it was like half useful info, half self promotion.

Just like your post is part advertising, eh?

Like anyone else you can advertise your services for free in the appropriate part of the site.

As a new user of the site I suppose if it's 'expat ' then that really does give you some rights on restricting acess

I have lost count of the "contact requests "made to myself by non expats.Invariably,after looking at their profiles,I see they are sales orientated,mostly estate agents wishing to sell apartments and houses and I think that after the recent push by the moderators to stop all advertising by posting a thread from locals they are using this method to attract attention to themselves.
Obviously they have no intention of giving constructive comment in any post or subject and are only interested in selling their product.
I am currently blocking them and I assume that this only blocks them from further contact to myself.....which leaves them free to contact and waste the time of all other genuine users of the site.
How do we eliminate this problem?......can it be done without adding more workload on the moderators?

Add them and when they flog their wares you just report it. I have met only one person from this site in 4 years, he was Viet Kieu. I now just basically ignore requests.

Good idea.....thanks colin

Gareth Uk wrote:

I have lost count of the "contact requests "made to myself by non expats.Invariably,after looking at their profiles,I see they are sales orientated,mostly estate agents wishing to sell apartments and houses and I think that after the recent push by the moderators to stop all advertising by posting a thread from locals they are using this method to attract attention to themselves.
Obviously they have no intention of giving constructive comment in any post or subject and are only interested in selling their product.
I am currently blocking them and I assume that this only blocks them from further contact to myself.....which leaves them free to contact and waste the time of all other genuine users of the site.
How do we eliminate this problem?......can it be done without adding more workload on the moderators?

Yep, I have had loads of "add me" requests from people who, if I add them never speak to me again.

Gareth Uk wrote:

I have lost count of the "contact requests "made to myself by non expats.Invariably,after looking at their profiles,I see they are sales orientated,mostly estate agents wishing to sell apartments and houses and I think that after the recent push by the moderators to stop all advertising by posting a thread from locals they are using this method to attract attention to themselves.

Report and they will be banned.
You can also block them from your PM system.

Based on what I read now, I went through my requests and banned all but one who was an English teacher from my wife's hometown. 

I think many of the requests are somewhat innocent but caused by the fact that a lot of these people are confusing this site's format with Facebook which is the favorite local site.  I read recently that FB has the highest penetration in Vietnam of any Asian country.  Personally, I can't stand it but signed up because my adult children asked me to.

THIGV wrote:

I think many of the requests are somewhat innocent but caused by the fact that a lot of these people are confusing this site's format with Facebook.

Not so.
They come on in double acts, the first asking a question and the other answering in the form of an advert.
There's a very sus on this morning but the answer hasn't happened yet so they have yet to be banned.
Others pretend to be posters but are just advertising. It's calculated and deliberate.

I've been clicking on "reject", and wondered afterward whether the senders would have actually received something that said I rejected them.

eodmatt wrote:

Strong in you the force is!

Yoda looks like a nothing burger compared to me.
Told you a sus post was going to be a spammer and it was that 123 lot again.
Two banned until they return in the hope of spamming thair language school that treats potential customers like idiots by pretending to be real posters.

One has to ask, if that place assumes you're stupid, how do they treat their customers?

THIGV wrote:

Based on what I read now, I went through my requests and banned all but one who was an English teacher from my wife's hometown. 

I think many of the requests are somewhat innocent but caused by the fact that a lot of these people are confusing this site's format with Facebook which is the favorite local site.  I read recently that FB has the highest penetration in Vietnam of any Asian country.  Personally, I can't stand it but signed up because my adult children asked me to.

Same here. I detest Facebook with a vengeance because it is too intrusive and keeps trying to link me with people who, to be honest, I wouldn't pee on them if they were on fire.

Hi Julien
I previously had an account with Expat .com  in India
now I am living back in Danang .
Joe Wolb

I've found and banned 6 Vinhomes spammers in the last hour.
Please report any posts 'looking for housing' when that bunch reply, or even look like they're about to reply.

Impressive - new Job as Spam Hunter :-)

now 7 this evening

Now I am scare:-(

How do I report a spam mail? Not a simple contact request, but an offer to lend me a vast amount of money, from a member in France who just joined 2 days ago (zero post.)

I know how to block her. Is it the same thing?

Click on the !Report button on the right hand side of the line with the poster's name in it. A dialog box will appear for you to write your reason for reporting the inappropriate post. I have had to send eport many times.

She sent me a private message, not a post; I don't see any thing with "Report" on the mail. 

Below is the entire message, minus her private email address on the last line.

"Contact message
Nous pouvons vous aidez. comprenez que je suis une prêteuse .
Nous aidons les gences surtout les membres du site pour leurs besoins financiers en leurs accordant de crédit pour un montant allant de 1.000 euros ou dollars à 15.000.000 euros ou dollars.
je vous remercie pour votre fidélité à me donner votre avis.

Intéresser ???? écrivez moi si possible par mail."

Ciambella wrote:

This is a private message, not a post; I don't see any thing with "Report" on the mail.

I just checked this and saw your posts came up while I was checking.  I think there is a privacy issue.  If you reported a private message, then the moderators would have to read it which would violate the privacy of the sender.  The sender may be malicious in this case but in others he/she may not be.  I think your only alternative is to block the sender.

I hope the moderators will forgo comment on the fact that you re-posted the message in the original French as it is a quotation.  I think that is appropriate in this case.  Those who can't read it easily can use Google translate.  Deleting the sender's name was wise too.

BTW Ralph's suggestion is correct for regular posts.  I have reported spammers this way and the moderators are quick to take action.

Thank you, THIGV.  Will block her straight away.

THIGV wrote:

Ciambella wrote:

This is a private message, not a post; I don't see any thing with "Report" on the mail.

I just checked this and saw your posts came up while I was checking.  I think there is a privacy issue.  If you reported a private message, then the moderators would have to read it which would violate the privacy of the sender.  The sender may be malicious in this case but in others he/she may not be.  I think your only alternative is to block the sender.

I hope the moderators will forgo comment on the fact that you re-posted the message in the original French as it is a quotation.  I think that is appropriate in this case.  Those who can't read it easily can use Google translate.  Deleting the sender's name was wise too.

BTW Ralph's suggestion is correct for regular posts.  I have reported spammers this way and the moderators are quick to take action.

I used Google translate on that text and it came back as "heroo, its are raining not in itokio, make bread but eat nit in raining."

I can understand the OP being concerned!

You have a very twisted Google, Matt. 

Nous pouvons vous aidez. comprenez que je suis une prêteuse .
Nous aidons les gences surtout les membres du site pour leurs besoins financiers en leurs accordant de crédit pour un montant allant de 1.000 euros ou dollars à 15.000.000 euros ou dollars.
je vous remercie pour votre fidélité à me donner votre avis.

Intéresser ???? écrivez moi si possible par mail."

I translated that from French to Gibberish and it says:

Please donate all the funds in your bank account, and all personal belongings to Colinoscapee. These will be used to help save drunken and downtrodden expats in Viet Nam.

Yours most gracefully.
Prince Rusty Wheelbarrow 3rd
Nigeria

Hi everyone,

Just a few words on these spams/scammers proposing money/loans, whether posted on the forum or sent through private messages, they should be reported. There's a "report" button by means which you can report pm, it is found just beside the date (ex : 2 days ago  |  Report).


Odd that the report button couldn't be found on this one, we will look into the matter. For the time being, i can only guess that the button couldn't be found as the pm/member was blocked by the automatic system as soon as he clicked on send  (Some keywords are automatically blocked to deter these kind of spams).

Have a nice day,
Bhavna

Not on my screen.  I have only the date on PM's and if I click on that it opens the reply page, the same as clicking anywhere else in the massage.  The reply page has an "Actions" button in the upper right with only three options:  Mark as unread, Delete Thread, Block this user.  I tried this with several PM's from different senders.  Perhaps as a moderator, you have additional options.  I suggest you consult with your programmers.

THIGV wrote:

.... if I click on that it opens the reply page, the same as clicking anywhere else in the massage.  ...

Below that Reply Text Area, (scroll down) you can see the message/s in that conversation.

There, in the top right corner of each message (conversation segment) there is a ''|Report''  option (just a link, not a button) next to the date.

If you are using a handphone the report button is not visible, you have to click the three dots next to reply.

colinoscapee wrote:

If you are using a handphone the report button is not visible, you have to click the three dots next to reply.

I think, it depends on the screen size and overall layout & graphics settings of individual handset / device.
On my Galaxy J7 Prime, I can see the "Report" option .... but, no ''Reply'' button.
''Reply'' is hidden inside the ''Action" drop-list.

Interesting, Im using a Galaxy J7 and can see the reply tab.