PHISHING ALERT! - ALL GEEZERS READ!

[FireSpark]

wahmbulance Attention All Geezers!! wahmbulance

Though we make up the elder demographic of Gaia, and thus should be the wiser and more experienced persons, it can't hurt to be reminded of the basics of the internet every now and again. In this case, the basic rule being:

Never, ever, give out your password. To anyone. Period.

Gaia staff don't need your password, as they can manage your account six ways from Sunday without it. It's their system after all. Anybody else out there doesn't need to be having access to your account. Anyone who asks should immediately be filed under "Nefarious Persons" and reported ASAP.

Below is a message I had in my box this morning. I've reported it, but if you find one similar, you should report it too. the more flags the Gaia admins get on a single account, the faster they can respond to it.

Clicking on the thumbnail will get you a bigger version. Didn't want to post the whole thing as it was big, and I have a wacky ratio on my laptop.

If you can't see the pic, click here.


This has been a Safe Surfing Alert from your local GGG Mod. Carry on.  

[ThisEmptySoul]

I got the same message this morning. I ended up deleting it instead of reporting it because I didn't think about it.  

[SakuraTheBlueTiger]

I got that a few days ago myself...deleted it...didn't think to report it either sweatdrop *drinks more Drambui again*  

[Areashine]

Thanks for the advice!  

[Faerie KatrinaZ]

I haven't gotten anything like this in a very long time. Thanks for the alert, FireSpark! 3nodding  

[Liada Trovaras]

Thanks for the heads up, I haven't received this PM yet but I have been a victim of being hacked my a password phisher. Not only that, but bc of that hacker I got framed for doing the crime and almost banned from Gaia. So yes! Thanks for the warning Fire!  

[Liada Trovaras]

Hey guys I figured I'd update here. I just got 2 PM's about this Gaia Instant Gveaway link. They are from two different names but the avatar is the same. It claims that there is this link it encloses gives you instants items and gold with only needing you to type in your username. It claims it isn't a scam because it doesn't need downloads or your password but it just feels weird to me. I've already sent a report on it but I wanted to spread the word about it in case anyone gets this too. Take care!  

[bikutsi]

Liada Trovaras

Hey guys I figured I'd update here. I just got 2 PM's about this Gaia Instant Gveaway link. They are from two different names but the avatar is the same. It claims that there is this link it encloses gives you instants items and gold with only needing you to type in your username. It claims it isn't a scam because it doesn't need downloads or your password but it just feels weird to me. I've already sent a report on it but I wanted to spread the word about it in case anyone gets this too. Take care!

I got it too and reported it. I've had the same from 2 female avis before too.  

[FireSpark]

Oh, how I wish I could dive into the net, and hunt down such deviants. Go in for a VR kill as it were.  

[Liada Trovaras]

Yea I know right? I think a lot of us would like to do that.  

[ThisEmptySoul]

Ryzan had gotten about 3 or 4 more of these... all from different usernames and the avatars were also different.  

[Faerie KatrinaZ]

One of my mule accounts got one yesterday from a plainly dressed male avi. Reported the PM, of course.  

[Liada Trovaras]

Just a bump on this topic because I've gotten two more PM's from that giveaway scam on one of my mule accounts and one more on this one. I've reported them but again spreading the word.  

[Liada Trovaras]

Well it seems i'm a big target for password phishing attempts these days. I just got a new PM that was labeled "Warning: Ban Notice"

The username was rarity is a virtue and the PM consisted of her claiming to be part of Gaian Staff and Admin and that my account was reported. It continued on to say that since I was reported that I needed to answer a few questions of them in order to see if I'm innocent of the report and what not as well as a time limit of when to do so. The PM then continued to ask me for my username, password, and email. The weird thing is the person did NOT tell me what I was reported for and since I've been hacked before and been framed for password phishing before I remembered the last time I was PMed by a mod that something wasn't right. So I got a second opinion from my room mate since she knows Mods here on Gaia and has been a member of gaia longer than I have.

My room mate pointed out that since the user who sent the PM didn't have a colored font in her username that it was not a Mod and a scammer so I reported the pm and changed my password.

Just giving a warning out for this one since this one was more detailed. Like I said I changed my password to be safe so heads up guys.  

[FireSpark]

Liada Trovaras

Well it seems i'm a big target for password phishing attempts these days. I just got a new PM that was labeled "Warning: Ban Notice"

The username was rarity is a virtue and the PM consisted of her claiming to be part of Gaian Staff and Admin and that my account was reported. It continued on to say that since I was reported that I needed to answer a few questions of them in order to see if I'm innocent of the report and what not as well as a time limit of when to do so. The PM then continued to ask me for my username, password, and email. The weird thing is the person did NOT tell me what I was reported for and since I've been hacked before and been framed for password phishing before I remembered the last time I was PMed by a mod that something wasn't right. So I got a second opinion from my room mate since she knows Mods here on Gaia and has been a member of gaia longer than I have.

My room mate pointed out that since the user who sent the PM didn't have a colored font in her username that it was not a Mod and a scammer so I reported the pm and changed my password.

Just giving a warning out for this one since this one was more detailed. Like I said I changed my password to be safe so heads up guys.

I highlighted the really important part of Liada's post for everyone. The key here is that Gaia staff will never ask for your password. Why? Because they don't need it. They can jigger you around six ways from Sunday if they wanted to.

And remember: Report, Report, Report.