Have you suddenly gotten email notices that a bunch of people you don’t know are following ALL of your boards on Pinterest? Don’t just blindly follow them back! Here’s what’s going on…
Apparently since mid March, some unscupulous people out there are creating fake accounts, pinning one or two photos into hundreds of pin boards, and inking these pins to sites that launch a variety of money-making scams. Then, they go out and find people by the hundreds to follow – hoping you’ll blindly follow them back and click through on their pins which will make them a bunch of money.
I contacted the good folks at Pinterest when I started getting these ‘people’ following me and reported them. I got a reply soon after that said, “Thanks for letting us know! When I clicked the links, the accounts appear to have been removed already. We have automatic spam-detection features in place or someone else on the team may have suspended them – either way, if you come across others, please let us know. Again, we hugely appreciate your reports, thank you!”
Yay, Pinterest!
It’s unfortunate that this great web site is being attacked like this daily, but it’s awesome to know that they have a solution in place. Major kudos to Ben and the gang!
So, how can you tell if a new follower of your boards is one of these spammers?
1. When you get an email notice that someone (or a bunch of someones) is following you, click on their name to check out who they are.
2. On the top of the pinterest screen, do you see hundreds of boards, very few followers, and hundreds of people they are following?
3. Is there only one or two pins per board and sometimes the board title doesn’t even match the picture of the pin?
Most likely this is a fake person and one of the spammers. You can click through a pin to see where it goes, but that will usually earn them some money because they get paid everytime someone clicks on their links. Another problem you may run into if you click through…a virus may download onto your computer…ack!
My advice…don’t click. Just delete that email notice and get back to pinning!
Pin ya later!
