Too many Scam emails in classifieds

[585bhp]

This week so far I've had [e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail].

emails "Hello, I'm interested in this car. Is it still available?"

Not sure if PH can run some simple AI filter to remove this opening gambit and warn users of Phishing.

I don't seem to get this on any other sites where I have the car advertised - its always PH?

[jeremyc]

Likely to be linked to the well known scam discussed here.

[585bhp]

Agreed but why are they just targeting PH users?
Autotrader, Collecting Cars, Carwow and EbayMotors - I just don't get this level of phishing traffic -

[jeremyc]

585bhp said:

Agreed but why are they just targeting PH users?
Autotrader, Collecting Cars, Carwow and EbayMotors - I just don't get this level of phishing traffic -

They're not just targetting PH:

Ben Lowden from PH said:

Unfortunately the whole industry is plagued by these scams at the moment - they seem to be targeting any private car sellers, so we're not aware of any more specific targeting than that. But thanks for the insight!

[Ben Lowden]

Yes unfortunately this is a widespread issue affecting the whole industry, not just PistonHeads. We're taking steps to try and reduce the spam but as they start out as what seem to be genuine enquiries, it's very hard to detect them. While it's a shame we have to do this, all private sellers receive a warning email as soon as they list a car for sale with us about this scam.

[Killer2005]

Posted a new ad today, had a scam message within half an hour.

Thankfully it's obvious which are the scams so quickly deleted and ignored.

[Agent57]

If I look at any car for sale on PH it defaults with my email address and a default message of: "Hello, I'm interested in this car. Is it still available?"

If one were to accidently click on the big green box below, that would be the message that gets sent.

Looks like a website design fault to me... or am I missing something?

[Ben Lowden]

Agent57 said:

If I look at any car for sale on PH it defaults with my email address and a default message of: "Hello, I'm interested in this car. Is it still available?"

If one were to accidently click on the big green box below, that would be the message that gets sent.

Looks like a website design fault to me... or am I missing something?

That's our standard pre-fill text but obviously you can change it to whatever you'd like to ask, so no fault.

[Mr Pointy]

Ben Lowden said:

Agent57 said:

If I look at any car for sale on PH it defaults with my email address and a default message of: "Hello, I'm interested in this car. Is it still available?"

If one were to accidently click on the big green box below, that would be the message that gets sent.

Looks like a website design fault to me... or am I missing something?

That's our standard pre-fill text but obviously you can change it to whatever you'd like to ask, so no fault.

Well it could be considered a fault if your standard text is the same as is used by many scammers. Change it to something else like "Default Text" then recipients would know the reason they are getting the message - someone has pressed the green box by mistake.

[geopetrolhead]

Yep I have the same issue with my ad! I’m fuming !

List of emails I have received from
Scammers in the last 2 days since ad went live

[e-mail]

[e-mail]

[e-mail]

[e-mail]

[e-mail]


Not sure about the top one, maybe genuine? Not sure yet though. I won’t be paying to advertise here again! What a joke, if I wanted spam I can get for free in my spam email box!

[Agent57]

Ben Lowden said:

That's our standard pre-fill text but obviously you can change it to whatever you'd like to ask, so no fault.

Hi Ben. Your standard pre-fill text may be in need of improvement (or removal) IMHO. Thanks.

[SlimJim16v]

I don't think there shouldn't be a prefilled message.

[585bhp]

I totally agree. It doesn’t help us determine a genuine response to our adverts that people pay for. Those could be missing out on real enquiries.
We need some form of algorithm that weeds these out. Or at least ask the scammers something relevant to the advert so that we can see they have read it. The contacts are farmed and bulk sent.
PH and cargurus need to try harder to prevent revenue loss from people not wanting to place ads because of this. This is now prolific.

[585bhp]

Ben Lowden said:

That's our standard pre-fill text but obviously you can change it to whatever you'd like to ask, so no fault.

Ben, I’ve been a member longer than many of your team. It’s really is only targeting you and Cargurus.

[Ben Lowden]

Agent57 said:

Hi Ben. Your standard pre-fill text may be in need of improvement (or removal) IMHO. Thanks.

We are now looking into this to test removing the text.

585bhp said:

Ben, I ve been a member longer than many of your team. It s really is only targeting you and Cargurus.

We know from industry and other sellers that AutoTrader, eBay and Facebook are all affected by these scammers, so I can assure you, it's not just isolated to our brands, as frustrating as it is.