LATEST PHISHING SCAM

We've had a few complaints over the past few days of users responding to ads, specifically ones in our Adult and Personals sections, and receiving a phishing email from an auto-responder.

These emails are written to look like a personal response, but they contain links to external websites (that aren't owned and operated by us) asking for credit card and other personal info. Backpage.com DOES NOT require any credit card information to respond to ads, under any circumstances. If you respond to an ad and are asked to go to a site that looks like backpage to enter credit card information, please simply forward these to abuse@backpage.com

It's also important to note that Backpage.com does not operate under any other domain names. If you click a link claiming to be from backpage, make sure that the URL in your browsers navigation toolbar is pointed to "http://www.backpage.com" or "http://dallas.backpage.com", etc.

Here's an example of an email one of our users received and a screen shot of the seemingly innocuous ad he responded to...

From: "**********@ztxmail.com

To: "**********@yahoo.com"

Date: September 23, 2009 12:27:52 PM PDT

Subject: Tonight?

Hey I haven’t heard back from you since your last reply. I hope you understand my need to be safe.. Not looking for trouble hehe.. Anyway I signed up with backpagescam.com (link edited) to do my verifications. I only hook up with guys I know are of age and safe. A lady can’t be too careful these days. Once u complete the form, Backpage will email you a 4 digit code. Then call me soon and we’ll set something up. My phone number is: XXX-X61-9380… the four digit code you receive is the first 4 of my number.

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Please be on the lookout for ads like these and try to remain aware of any links you click on claiming to be from backpage.com asking for credit card or other sensitive information.

- Carl

“YOUR CAPTCHA OFFENDS ME. PAY ME $320K!”

We all know that CAPTCHA, the challenge-response security feature found on most websites nowadays, is a pain. However, most people also understand that it’s a necessary evil. We here at Backpage use it to thwart evil-doers who use spam to peddle their schemes and bots who would seek to exploit our services and harass our users.

After CAPTCHA offended one Backpage user so badly, he claims the very foundation of his company came undone. In fact, in a letter from the users’ attorney, it offended a girl, who was spamming our site performing “data entry work” on behalf of the user, so badly that the traumatic event left his employee shattered and in ruin.

What randomly generated word was the user asked to enter that could generate such chaos, you ask? The most terrible and offensive kind of all; a “slang expression for female genitalia”. At least, that’s what their attorney claims in a poorly written letter he sent us a while back.

[caption id="attachment_168" align="alignnone" width="500" caption=""This seems reasonable", we thought to ourselves."][/caption]

As we all know, when fabricating a lawsuit, it is considered bad etiquette to demand anything under a quarter million dollars. Knowing this, the user, being the fine and upstanding businessman he is, has demanded we pay him $320,000 in “damages”.

For those of you keeping score at home that’s THREE HUNDRED AND TWENTY THOUSAND DOLLARS.

I could go on and on about how the word “pussy” isn’t a word that’s entirely uncommon to hear on network television nowadays or that it wouldn’t be a shock to see it in an elementary school library, but what I really want to know is…does anyone else see the irony here? Come on. Is it just me or is this guy being a pussy?

- Carl