All moderators and founders of Ben's Friends work very hard to keep spammers off the site, however their methods of applying for membership get more sophisticated each day. Just on this site, we must decline 25-50, maybe more, a day. There are individual spammers and something we refer to as a 'spambot', some kind of computer devised to mass solicit.
They will do their best to convince you to buy a so called 'miracle cure', and will want your phone number, your credit card number, or your bank account number, maybe even try to get your social security number.
They may try to sell you sex, or conversations about sex. They may have a hard luck story asking for money. Who can know, and they will contact as may people as they can in rapid fire fashion, knowing we are on the look-out for them at all times.
Should you EVER encounter them, NEVER CLICK ON THEIR LINK, as it may be the way they can access your private information, or plant a virus, or back door Trojan on to your computer. Just notify a moderator as soon as you get it, if you do not see one on the board, compose a message and send it to all of us, our names and photos are at the top of the 'member' page.
Thank you all for helping to keep our members safe, and our group a haven.
Any word on when you're going to be able to make this site a secure site? Right now it is NOT. There's no way to sign in with the HTTPS in the login page. Our only option is to sign in is through straight HTTP. So, every time we sign in, our passwords are floating out there in danger of being stolen by hackers. Now that I hear this about spammers attacking this site, I'm very concerned that my information is compromised. It's especially concerning given that this is a site where people expect anonymity due to serious medical conditions. Not sure, but there even may be HIPAA implications by not giving us the HTTPS login option. I'm afraid to use the site anymore and unfortunately am thinking of completely deleting my account if this can't be resolved. I've asked about this in the past and it went nowhere. In fact, anything we post on here is in risk of being seen by anyone.
I appreciate that. I've not used the site for a few months due to this very issue. I only took a chance and logged on today out of concern for the email notification that said "Please read, problem with spammers" and then could only read what was going on by logging in to the site. The email only gives a partial teaser.Thanks.
dancermom said:
Lone Wolf, I will take this to the Ben's Friends Founders, and you will get a response. Give us a day or two to get back to you.
Lone Wolf, Ben and the Founders are very grateful for your feedback, as it will help our Networks improve. The founders are working on an FAQ page that will address privacy and security concerns. They are also in the process of identifying any security issues within the Ning network that need to be addressed. Ning enables Ben's Friends to run 35 Rare Disease Networks on a shoestring budget. It's not perfect but enables Ben's Friends to do so much for so little. And as always, Ben's Friends does not collect, distribute, or sell information on any of its members.
Further updates on this issue are coming. Thanks again, Lone Wolf!
People that do these things are CRUEL , it is hard enough that we can't handle living from day to day - and these people are doing Stupid things like this , sham on them . But thank you for letting us now .....Beverly L.
