Fake members?

[Lost.]

Fake members. There was a strange fraud go on, on a site I was posting on.

One person was posting as a couple and nether was who they said they were?

They put a lot of work in to this masquerade. They had me fooled.

I Guess they thought it was great fun fooling us.

Some member on the site did some hard work and discovered the masquerade.

 

[Pete!]

It happens all the time when administrators don't screen new members.
The type you describe are sometimes called "sock puppets".

[Corrine]

We've been lucky here and haven't had that kind of nonsense.  We do have a Stop Forum Spam add-on which checks username, IP address and email address for spam.  Although there was one false/positive recently that was fixed, it has been a good tool.  At SNF (Scot's Newsletter Forum), all new members are carefully vetted.

[plodr]

I used to see something similar at forums. One person would ask for a program to help do something. That person would register as a different poster and post a link (usually for nefarious purposes) to a site or a program.

I am always suspicious of a first time poster posting links so I usually report and ask that the link be removed or at least made unable to be clicked.

[Corrine]

We've run into that scenario at Sysnative, plodr.  Obvious spam and both quickly removed.

[satrow]

I used to see something similar at forums. One person would ask for a program to help do something. That person would register as a different poster and post a link (usually for nefarious purposes) to a site or a program.

Astroturfing. MS sites (used to be) full of it - so if someone links there as an 'answer' - that needs checking out too.

[Pete!]

I used to see something similar at forums. One person would ask for a program to help do something. That person would register as a different poster and post a link (usually for nefarious purposes) to a site or a program.

I am always suspicious of a first time poster posting links so I usually report and ask that the link be removed or at least made unable to be clicked.

One of the add-ons at North Eastern Fly Fishing forums puts a new member's post in a moderation queue if it contains a link, no one can see it until approved by a moderator. It has other "spammy" triggers, but the inclusion of a link is the most frequent cause.
BUT
A vBulletin with all the bells and whistles added crashes frequently.