Potential Bot network on BHW / Thread bumping?

[LilMosey]

Last 1-2 weeks I've seen same threads appear on homepage multiple times a day with very strange replies from users registered couple of days ago, usually with the username that has 5-6 letters and 4-5 numbers (example: bhwseo1234) posting same repetitive comments on a few threads, as if they were targeted, either on Google Ads/Adwords Threads or Account selling threads.

Look at these examples:

Every message is sent within 3-4 minutes (forum spam) and most used comments are:

interested
Interested discount send me on pm and detalis payment
Get responded thanks

Some of these comments dont even make sense and have the same typo error (detalis).

Maybe a staff member can have a look at this and see what can be done. Couple of months ago I have seen staff member replying to a Thread in this subforum saying that there was a Bot network. Maybe they're at it again?

 

[Wilson Grant Fisk]

Well spotted,
People need to keep reporting them.

 

[INCC]

Last 1-2 weeks I've seen same threads appear on homepage multiple times a day with very strange replies from users registered couple of days ago

Last 1-2 weeks? This has been happening for ages.

 

[G]

I also see this regularly and send a few reports every day so that the staff can look at the suspicious accounts. Terrible.

 

[Alfon]

Anyone dealing with Google Ads accounts should be extremely carefully.
There have been a lot of scams recently.

 

[LilMosey]

Last 1-2 weeks? This has been happening for ages.

True but I don't remember it being this bad

 

[Curious Ed]

Who'd have thought it, people on a black hat internet marketing forum using blackhat tactics to sell more stuff on a blackhat internet marketing forum!

 

[Chris Newman]

This is something for which a support ticket need to be raised, requesting BHW support team to pass on the details to the tech team of BHW (as this is neither a feedback nor a suggestion and it has a technical angle in order to handle or counteract such spam).
However, from what we know, BHW's tech team is already aware of what OP has mentioned and they are always on combat with anything spammy.

 

[deppo]

This is something for which a support ticket need to be raised, requesting BHW support team to pass on the details to the tech team of BHW (as this is neither a feedback nor a suggestion and it has a technical angle in order to handle or counteract such spam).
However, from what we know, BHW's tech team is already aware of what OP has mentioned and they are always on combat with anything spammy.

You are the last one to comment on this.

You have been manipulating the forum, including your sales thread, with similar tactics.

 

[zigzagzig]

Each reply to my sales thread leads to one more sale, most of the time. I suppose it would be worth it for whoever sat that thing up.

 

[SeoBacklinkGenie]

Looks like you missed all the spam on the SMM panels.

 

[AdRex]

I've seen it also. On my thread in particular and then started noticing on others also.
Reported few times and mods deleted, but it really does seem over run with these spam accs.

Nice that you made a post about it OP

 

[Mrnewbie]

Going to say this [Please report any spam accounts but do realize we don't have the technology to find out if each account is spamming] We will do the best that we can, but posting this in public doesn't help if you get what I mean. Please trust that the staff filters out more than you think, and again like the MTA would say, "If you see something suspicious, report it." Have a great Sunday.

 

[TheSplinter]

Some people do say they're interested and ask for discount or whatever and then plain and simply don't respond and don't buy. I don't understand the purpose, but it should be against the TOS.

 

[Zwielicht]

Some people do say they're interested and ask for discount or whatever and then plain and simply don't respond and don't buy. I don't understand the purpose, but it should be against the TOS.

The purpose depends on the account or spam network. For regular users, they do this to inflate their post count to get to 100 posts. For spam networks, it's always either to bump sales threads or to farm accounts.

All of the accounts in the screenshots @LilMosey provided are part of the same Russian bot spam network. That particular network was small and easy enough to take care of, but this is why we stress the importance of reporting these issues.

Each reply to my sales thread leads to one more sale, most of the time. I suppose it would be worth it for whoever sat that thing up.

Sellers are required to maintain their sales threads. If you're aware of spam in your sales thread and you choose to encourage this spam by not reporting it because of a perceived benefit, we can't help you if your sales thread gets shut down and you receive an infraction.

True but I don't remember it being this bad

You must've missed that spam network from late 2022. That one was awful.

Some people do say they're interested and ask for discount or whatever and then plain and simply don't respond and don't buy. I don't understand the purpose, but it should be against the TOS.

I remember when I used to do affiliate marketing through Clickbank, I was initially confused as to why someone would get to the order form only to not buy the product. Thinking like a consumer helped me realise that sometimes, you just might be on the fence about something, and then simply just change your mind mid-way through. I personally do this a lot with my Amazon cart, and I know others do as well.

In the case of genuine users here on BHW, sometimes they just change their mind after receiving the discount: either they found a better service or they didn't like how the seller approached them with the discount. Having seen some of the discount messages some sellers send out, it's really not surprising.

Anyway, if this is happening to you, try split testing different discount messages to see if that is the issue for you.

tl;dr for this thread: report the issue or submit a ticket using support.blackhatworld.com. This specific spam network was taken care of.

Question Answered, Thread Closed​