Spam Posts - An update

Hi everyone, Happy June! I hope you're all enjoying the sunshine!

I know there's been a lot of chat about spam posts on our Customer Community recently, we've had an update from our platform provider over the weekend and I wanted to update you all 😊

• We have blocked the users posting the spam messages, and blocked emails with the same domain at the end for now as well. We've made the decision to do this as the majority of the spam accounts have used this same address ending.
• We've also added a blocker for other spam email addresses that are using random domains. This will hopefully mean going forward we see a significant drop in spam messages making their way through.

While we've not implemented the following just yet, we have the following on our radar to utilise if necessary:

• We can add an IP blocker for geographical locations outside of the the UK - This will block international spam accounts (which appears to be what we've fallen victim to in this circumstance) - The reason we're currently hesitant to do this is because it also blocks any access from outside of the UK, and we don't want to penalise any customers we have who may happen to live abroad.
• We can also add a manual checking system to the Community, whereby the likes of Hat and I would manually approve each new customer account in the community by checking the email address.

I just want to take a moment to thank all of you who have kept us in the loop when spam posts have appeared which we've missed, I really appreciate it. I also want to reiterate Hat's message here where she advised not to click on any links you may see, and to delete any DMs you may have received.

I know it can sometimes seem like we're sat about doing nothing but I promise we're as frustrated by it as you are, and we're working our hardest to make sure you aren't pestered by any more spam!

Any questions, just let me know!

Beth 😁

Well isn’t this embarrassing they are still doing it

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Originally Posted by Richtea78

Well isn’t this embarrassing they are still doing it

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They are and it's a real shame :( They're using different domains which is why they're filtering through. Each user who posts spam is being permanently banned though, the theory goes that banning the accounts will help the spambot (wherever it is) learn to stop bothering with a certain website - in this case, us. I appreciate your vigilance, thank you. 😀

Beth

I’m not sure spam bots will learn? I admire your optimism but it’s really unprofessional looking and not to mention dangerous

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Originally Posted by Richtea78

I’m not sure spam bots will learn? I admire your optimism but it’s really unprofessional looking and not to mention dangerous

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Spam Bots will not learn as you rightly suggest Richtea. And not wanting to ban customers outside of the UK she says. Really? must be a first for a energy supplier of electricity other than grids.

Morning @Richtea78 & @Silverfox - I hope you're both keeping well.

Our platform providers have assessed what's been blocked so far, before it's had the chance to hit the community. It's essentially all non-human spam accounts which haven't made it through the existing blockers. There's then an email verification system in place to catch any remaining non-human accounts. As a result, the consensus at this time is that the spam we're seeing is human-made & posted.

In order to combat human spam, now we know that's what it is, we've got a number of additional steps we can put into place, Hat and I are working closely with our platform providers to make sure these are implemented as soon as possible.

As always your vigilance, patience and support is appreciated.

Beth 😀

There are more and more all the time! There’s like 3 in the last hour!

it’s a joke. I wonder how many people you are actually causing to get ripped off.

You’d be better off just shutting the forum down at this point. Use the resources towards getting something useful like the app working!

all you do on here is redirect people to Facebook anyway!

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Originally Posted by Richtea78

all you do on here is redirect people to Facebook anyway!

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Evening @Richtea78

I do try to help as many people as I can, but sadly it's just me online tonight, so I'm having to direct some people to Social Media as it's where they'll get the quickest reply :)

Thanks

Beth

Beth, perhaps you’d care to comment on the +10 or so spam messages in the last hour or so?

Hi @Richtea78

I'm afraid I can't comment on them, I'd finished for the day when they came through and I had a day off yesterday so I wasn't able to check them. I believe some of my colleagues logged on yesterday morning and deleted them as soon as they saw they were there.

We've implemented a (hopefully temporary) update this morning to alleviate the spam reaching it's way through, so from now any posts to the Community will have to be approved by one of us moderators. This means we'll be able to remove & delete spam users before legitimate users such as yourself have visibility of them. Genuine posts & queries will still be approved to the community. We don't want this to be a permanent update to the Community, but we're doing what we can to keep you safe.

I hope this brings some reassurance :)

Beth :)

Well you’ve stopped the bots but I see you’re now controlling who can post what! Unintended benefit for Eon!

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Originally Posted by Richtea78

Well you’ve stopped the bots but I see you’re now controlling who can post what! Unintended benefit for Eon!

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Morning @Richtea78 - That's absolutely not the case at all. The only posts we're not allowing through are the spam posts which have (rightly) caused such upset among our Community Family. As always though, the Community isn't manned 24/7 so there may be a delay in posts being approved, but as long as they don't violate our guidelines (which can be found here) we have no reason to stop genuine member posts coming through.

If we did need to stop a post you'd make, we'll message you privately to let you know why it hasn't made it through :)

I hope this puts you at ease!

Beth :)