Friend Requests

[Regina Bolyard]

The same thing just happened to me. The request came from “Johnson” but the name link sent me to an error page. I searched through the member registry and no such person was listed.

[Mark Koziol]

Hello Regina, I do a majority of the approvals of requests to join our forum. We do encounter many persons who have ulterior motives. Many of these people would just love to infiltrate your computer or device. I denied Johnson. This was pretty easy as his IP address was a from an area of the world where these scammers are prevalent. Once I denied him all of his info was removed. His request was in limbo and our system would not have allowed anyone to approve being a friend of his. I do my best and extra precautions to protect our forum members are always taken. Fortunately no scammer has been able to get through our system.  I hope this helps.

[Mark Koziol]

Hello Stephen, I do a majority of the approvals of requests to join our forum. We do encounter many persons who have ulterior motives. Many of these people would just love to infiltrate your computer or device. I denied Johnson. This was pretty easy as his IP address was a from an area of the world where these scammers are prevalent. Once I denied him all of his info was removed. His request was in limbo and our system would not have allowed anyone to approve being a friend of his. I do my best and extra precautions to protect our forum members are always taken. Fortunately no scammer has been able to get through our system.  I hope this helps.

[Cynthia]

Thanks Mark. I got a friend request from Johnson too.

[Regina Bolyard]

Mark, that’s good to know! Thank you.

[john styles]

Thanks Mark, good to know you are trying to stay on top of these questionable people.

[Mark Koziol]

Regjna and John, and our forum members. You are most welcome. Charlene and I feel it is our responsibility to keep our members safe from these types of cyber attacks. Our tech team provides additional support and they are also involved in the approval process. On an instance where someone gets through and has ill intentions, Charlene is usually the one to identify and eliminate the threat. I feel all of us work well together to avoid a cyber catastrophe for our members. Mark

[Suzanne R Brennan]

The same thing happened to me.

[Kate Smithson]

Dear Steve, Charlene and Mark:

It is Kate Smithson here, and I am a registered member of PF News. I sent that message to Steve as I am searching for travel insurance information.   I had a question  for him and didn’t feel comfortable communicating on the public forum, so sent the “friend” request.
I trust that you can reassure him that I’m a legitimate member.  Perhaps because I sent that message (and this one) from my cell rather than my computer was a problem??Many thanks, Kate

[Charlene Marshall]

Thanks for letting us know Suzanne. @mark-koziol and I are working hard (mostly him though) at trying to catch any/all spammers from our site. The platform doesn’t stop all of these folks unfortunately. So far we’ve eliminated this spammer, thanks for letting us know.
Charlene.

[Charlene Marshall]

Hi Kate,

Thanks so much for letting us know that your request to @steveg was legitimate. I’ve tagged him here so hopefully he sees that request and get back to your inquiry. I think he (and many other members of the forums) were receiving friend requests from a spammer that slipped through mine and Mark’s grasp. We’ve since deleted him and all friend requests. Hope this helps clarify and I hope Steve gets your note 🙂
Sincerely,
Charlene.

[Stephen Gould]

Hi All – I never received a friend request from Kate?  Being somewhat new to this group, maybe I am not looking in the correct place?  Where does one see friend requests?

 

Thanks,

Steve

[Mark Koziol]

Hello Stephen, it would appear in your email.  You should also check your spam box. It would also appear on your home page. I checked I don’t think Kate followed through on the request. Mark

[Judy]

I too received the friend request and it went nowhere. Hlad to know about the spammers and that you are taking care of them. Really appreciate your work. I hadn’t thought about a possible spammer when I received I now know to delete. Many thanks

[Mark Koziol]

Hello Judy, the person who got through is a rare occurrence that happened because of a glitch in the system. 99.9% of the time the friend requests are valid and are done by actual forum members. If you receive a friend request and are skeptical, you can contact Charlene or myself and we can confirm if it is a valid request. Take care, mark.

[JR German]

Count me in the chorus of those receiving a friend request from “johnson”.  Glad to know I’m not alone but am curious if by just clicking on the link something hasn’t been added to my machine?  One can never be too careful!

JR

[Mark Koziol]

Hello JR, you are correct. I can assure you Johnson from Dakar, Pakistan did not access to any of your personal information. Thank you informing us. This helps our tech dept. immensely. Take care, mark.

[Karen Martin]

Thanks, Mark, for being on the lookout for us.  I too got a friend request from Johnson.  How great is it to know we can feel safe sharing our thoughts with one another here?!  Karen

[Mark Koziol]

Hello Karen, it looks like Johnson really made his rounds in the time he was in limbo. I’m sorry to you and all our members that were violated. Yes, Charlene and me are always watching for inappropriate comments and situations such as the Johnson scenario. Take care, mark.

[Bert Maidment]

This has happened to me also, a number of times. I would think the function does not work….BERT

[Mark Koziol]

Hello Bert, sorry this happened. If this happens again to you can you contact Charlene or myself. We will be able to immediately tell you if the request was valid. Thanks, Mark.