Spam / Off Topic Anyone Else Get These?

Anyone else get these? They are a real pain. Is there any way of preventing them in the first place? I've gotten so many of them over the last few months, not only on skype, but on a lot of my messaging "apps."

 

Does this happen on all of your devices or just one?

 

The whole lot of em'

 

I love dis,
But this happens to me loads and i don't know what to do.
All i can say is: Don't accept friends on skype that you actually have no idea of the username they have

 

General tips for avoiding these kind of things in the future:

• Do not click on advertisements on websites. (Adblock is a great extension for your browser, i suggest you get it)
• Do not share contact info with random websites unless you explicitly need them to be able to contact you.
• Do not share your contact details on public access points such as group chats or forums.
  
• Do not accept contact invitations from strangers.
• Do not share contact information between applications unless necessary.
• Do not click on any suspicious links. If you don't know what it is, don't click it. (this especially applies to links in comments of strangers)
  
• Do think twice before sharing contact information with someone you just met.
  
• Do make separate accounts. One for private stuff, and one for public use.
• Do report accounts that you believe are scam, if the application supports such action. (also ignore, and/or block such users)
  
• Do install a potent antivirus. (also keep your antivirus and OS up to date)

While following these rules of thumb doesn't guarantee you'll never see any spam messages again and there are extensive exceptions to most of them, you'll have a greater chance of staying 'clean', if you keep these in mind while online.

As for your current problem, there's not much you can do, except block said accounts and hope they don't come back or call their 'friends' (aka other spam bots. these kind of users are almost never human).

Another option to consider is creating new accounts to get rid of the spam users for good.


It may also not be a bad idea do a full system check against intruders, with either the antivirus program of
your choice or Malwarebytes.

I once had this problem, too. I was so bored that i had a 'conversation' with a spam bot for about half an hour. True story.

 

Appreciate the advice. I'm already using Malwarebytes, very useful.

 

I recomend everyone in using Avg internet security 2015 Its the best antivirus you can get so far. Unless you dont want to spend money then use the free version wich is the best free one. Yeah Avg is the best antivirus on the market.