Anyone else getting friend requests from people with near-porn as their profile pics?
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I've gotten four friend requests this week from profiles that were all created in 2014, with young women in various states of undress / come hither type poses and looks and so forth. I approved one so that people can see what I'm talking about.
Anyone know what's up with this? Some online porn spammer created accounts seven years ago and then waited like the cicadas to strike in 2021?
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10823922/help-inappropriate-friend-requests-pics#latest
Ayup. Old profiles, they're multiplying like rabbits. I did receive a bunny without apparel sitting on a big cottonball. Some are asking for money, too. The others...without apparel. It's becoming a daily ordeal.0 -
I've gotten 5 or 6 of them, maybe more. I even friended people I thought were "normal" looking and then I realized, later, that they've got a dirty link under their name that they're just hoping you'll click on. So I'm just not going to make any new fitness friends and weed out current ones, sadly.2
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I too have had two this week.
I remain puzzled at their angle,
can't imagine how they hope to monetize MFP friends.0 -
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Thanks! Lesson learned ... Do not approve friend requests on your phone when you can’t really see the profile pic. 😂3
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OP here. So ... interesting that people think the angle might be to get MFPers to click on links to various scam type sites. I went to the profiles of the 3 porn-y people who are either friends or that I recently unfriended. I see no links. There's got to be some other angle.
Of note, none of them actually contacted me, versus on other social media, when you accidentally let a porn-y person in as friend, inevitably it leads to some kind of scammy private message. So far none of the MFP-porn'ers have made contact of any sort. Hmmm....2 -
I've been getting them too! I had 4 the other day
Chances are that they aren't actually from 2014. They have probably been hacked and made to look older than they are so that people trust them more.
I'd recommend deleting them - whatever they're up to, it ain't gonna be good!0 -
Oh and for everyone getting these - make sure you report the profiles rather than just deleting the requests so that MFP can address it!1
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omg yes!!!!!!!0
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I've been getting them too! I had 4 the other day
Chances are that they aren't actually from 2014. They have probably been hacked and made to look older than they are so that people trust them more.
I'd recommend deleting them - whatever they're up to, it ain't gonna be good!
Why can't MFP just delete all accounts over 2 yrs old with no activity? I've been here 8 yrs and have lots of old accounts on my FL. This would stop the bots from using old accounts. Most users that return after 2 yrs make a new account anyway. Those already in would have to be "discovered" and eliminated one by one.6 -
OP here. So ... interesting that people think the angle might be to get MFPers to click on links to various scam type sites. I went to the profiles of the 3 porn-y people who are either friends or that I recently unfriended. I see no links. There's got to be some other angle.
Of note, none of them actually contacted me, versus on other social media, when you accidentally let a porn-y person in as friend, inevitably it leads to some kind of scammy private message. So far none of the MFP-porn'ers have made contact of any sort. Hmmm....
I had three as well. No DMs, no links in profiles. Reported them to Alex.1 -
I've been getting them too! I had 4 the other day
Chances are that they aren't actually from 2014. They have probably been hacked and made to look older than they are so that people trust them more.
I'd recommend deleting them - whatever they're up to, it ain't gonna be good!
Of note (?), all three I had were from 2020. Not too old. But no activity.0 -
yeah really seems like someone hacked into the mfp site or something. i think most people that log on here daily have gotten at least a couple of these.0
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My second post here. Third one in 5 days, today! MFP has got a real problem going on.
Oh, and I have gotten responses (cut and paste identical) from "Alex" to my two previous report (5 days ago and 2 days ago). And of course the accounts are still there, one the pic is gone, the other the profile pic is still there. MFP should shut down any account with such a profile pic. Easy peasy. I don't get their inaction.4 -
Yes, I’ve gotten several the last few weeks0
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snowflake954 wrote: »I've been getting them too! I had 4 the other day
Chances are that they aren't actually from 2014. They have probably been hacked and made to look older than they are so that people trust them more.
I'd recommend deleting them - whatever they're up to, it ain't gonna be good!
Why can't MFP just delete all accounts over 2 yrs old with no activity? I've been here 8 yrs and have lots of old accounts on my FL. This would stop the bots from using old accounts. Most users that return after 2 yrs make a new account anyway. Those already in would have to be "discovered" and eliminated one by one.
These may not actually be old accounts. Someone could have created new accounts and hacked them to make them look like they are established (so that people are more likely to accept the friend requests from established users). They could have taken over existing old accounts but that would be harder as it would require them to find the usernames etc.
It's a valid point though, it is weird to keep accounts active for so long without at least disabling them.2 -
OP here. So ... interesting that people think the angle might be to get MFPers to click on links to various scam type sites. I went to the profiles of the 3 porn-y people who are either friends or that I recently unfriended. I see no links. There's got to be some other angle.
Of note, none of them actually contacted me, versus on other social media, when you accidentally let a porn-y person in as friend, inevitably it leads to some kind of scammy private message. So far none of the MFP-porn'ers have made contact of any sort. Hmmm....
I friended one out of curiosity and it send me a link to a Cyrillic language website.
It seems like they are using a lot of old accounts. How are they harvesting these accounts?3 -
Yep. I’ve gotten about 3 or 4 this past week. I declined the request.0
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Back in 2018 (or thereabouts, if I recall correctly), MFP unfortunately experienced a system breach in which some passwords were compromised. We were all asked to change our passwords. Not everyone did so, I'd bet.
I'm speculating, but to me, parts of this look like a scripted (automated) attack on some of those accounts. It's not unusual for these things to take a while to play out. It's also not unusual to structure early attempts to probe how system admins and other users respond to the attempts. Noticing the porn-y photos and disabling accounts is a response.
In terms of how this could be monetized, that may also take a while. Some potential exploits require one-on-one human effort, rather than automated mass actions. The Cyrillic alphabet porn links may lead a few randy people to visit the sites, generating advertising revenue or leading them to pay for premium services, or perhaps downloading malware onto those folks' computers as they navigate the sites.
Beyond the immediate, further exploitation could take a while, since some common exploits aren't readily scripted, but rather require one-on-one interaction using the compromised accounts. For example, there are financial scams (think Nigerian Prince nonsense, possibly subtler), romance scams, etc.: Cat-phishing, future advertising/sales pitches, opinion influencing, flogging outside websites via timeline status updates or PMs here, etc.
As background, there are marketplaces for things like exposed passwords, compromised accounts (i.e., accurate, current, working PW and ID), scripts/tools for nefarious purposes, etc. Some bad actors specialize in part of the process, sell on the result of what they do to others who specialize differently.
This may lead one to ask why compromised passwords that were not changed would not have caused those risky accounts to be disabled or deleted before now. IME, that's the sort of thing that management tends to keep pushing lower on developers' priority lists when it competes for time with new features that can create more business for the organization. (That's not necessarily managers being idiots, IMO, either: It's a natural outcome of the contingencies in a profit-seeking organization.)
I do wonder if the timing of this is somewhat intentional, happening when support staff here are possibly doing work to convert backoffice functions because of the new ownership, things that would be invisible to us as users, but that would distract the developers and system administrators from noticing or responding as quickly as they might in a period with less upheaval.
Please note: I have no inside info here. The above is pure speculation by an MFP user, though based on having some professional experience with related matters.12 -
I got one too and you can easily adjust how many days you have been on MFP. So how long it says they have been on here may not be correct.0
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JustaJoe00 wrote: »yeah really seems like someone hacked into the mfp site or something. i think most people that log on here daily have gotten at least a couple of these.
No. I'm starting to feel a little left out.5 -
The first one I was like wtf then they just kept happening. I've noticed some even have friends some accept these requests. Yikes0
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I just deleted three!0
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Yes, I just signed on to 4 of them. All declined.0
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Same here. Ive gotten 4 in the past month. Dont accept them or reply. Half naked women aren't my cup of tea. Lol0
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I'd been getting random FR, but all from dressed people. I finally got a naked one! Well, Boogiemoo IS wearing socks.
Supposedly she's been here since May 11, 2011.1 -
The one I had I accepted on accident a few weeks ago messaged me "nice photo! is it a ball of wool? 😃".2
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Yep same here. Most on my friends list have gotten them as well.0
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I just got my first one lol. Interesting.0
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Yes, I've had several.0
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