Private Message Spam from someone named ExtremeCouponer

[queenofthehivemomof5]

Dear Hotcouponworld member,

It has been brought to my attention that someone with the username ExtremeCouponer here at Hotcouponworld sent some members unsolicited Private Messages asking for interested people who may want to participate in TLC's new show Extreme Couponing to send them personal information via email.

This is in direct violation of the Terms of Service at Hotcouponworld and we have no way of knowing if this request was a legitimate request or not. However upon my own investigation the person sending these emails had registered with a @yahoo.com email address and the email address that they sent in their message to members was an @gmail.com email address. Which makes me leery that this is a legitimate request. If TLC or one of their Representatives was seriously looking for participants for their show I would think that they would use a company email address and not a anyone can get one free email address as is provided by Yahoo and Gmail.

Hotcouponworld admin cannot read members private messages and as such I am unable to determine how many members this person messaged but I can see how many PM's any member has in their inbox and sent box (just a number) and I can see that in the one day they have been here they sent 15 messages, however I do not know who those members are.

If TLC would like to contact us they may send an email to heidi @ hotcouponworld.com and I would be happy to verify who they say they are and approve a public post on our message boards to solicit "Extreme Couponers" that wish to put their names in the hat to be considered for the show.

This member has been banned for spam and violation of our TOS.

If anyone sent their information to the email listed in the private message I just caution you to be careful that you do not give away your personally identifiable information to strangers on the internet. And I am sorry that you were spammed.

This is also a good time to remember that there are creepy people out there on the internet and that it is against our Terms of Service for others to send you unsolicited emails though our system or private messages through our system and if you ever receive a message that you think is suspect please feel free to forward the message on to me or another admin of HCW or click the report icon that can be found in the upper right of private message.

Thank you

[Troop1379]

Thanks for the info

[VivaciousJewelz]

Thanks for looking out for our community, Heidi!

[3timesoccermom]

Heidi and HCW crew - 1
Spammer(s) - 0

[cody82414]

[Zwella Ingrid]

Thanks for watching our backs Heidi!

[XUfan]

Thanks for looking out for us! It's nice to know you're there!

[BamaBird29]

Thankfully, I haven't received any private messages like this! I really appreciate the info - thanks for looking out for us and keeping our community safe! :)

[angeleyeza]

thanks for the info! *bump*

[Jen1]

Thanks for the info, Heidi!