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What Else Can They Hack?

BobKamman
Level 15

What's behind all the spam messages that appear here overnight (deleted when the monitors come to work in the morning)?  Is it just idle play by a teen-ager in a basement?  Or is it a message to Intuit that other systems are vulnerable, but for $10 million ransom the problem will go away?  

13 Comments 13
PATAX
Level 15

@BobKamman Well said Bob.

IRonMaN
Level 15

No hacking involved.  Since Intuit doesn't have any requirements for entry (you don't even have to wipe your feet on the welcome mat on your way in), it leaves them wide open for spammers.  The only folks that are ever denied entry for posting are regular posters when they are deemed to have made Santa's naughty list 😬


Slava Ukraini!
BobKamman
Level 15

@IRonMaN I thought they at least required an account with Intuit -- even if just TurboTax, QuickBooks or maybe CreditKarma.  Maybe not.  I'll have to try starting an anonymous account some day.  What's your explanation for what is happening?  

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IRonMaN
Level 15

You need nothing, other than the ability to create a username to get into this place.  For those of us that have been here since dirt, that has been the number one complaint since dirt.  Intuit doesn't like to potentially offend a potential new customer by locking the door, so they say "welcome" to anybody passing through -------------- including spammers when they want to flood the system.  This has happened before and it will happen again.


Slava Ukraini!
BobKamman
Level 15

Most spammers are trying to direct traffic to a product they are promoting.  I don't recall any spammers trying to direct traffic to train schedules and airline contacts.  The only money I can see being made from that is being paid to stop it.  

IRonMaN
Level 15

I can’t explain the things Intuit does so don’t ask me to go beyond that and start explaining spammers.


Slava Ukraini!
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sjrcpa
Level 15

@BobKamman 

"I'll have to try starting an anonymous account some day. "

Technically, having more than user name here violates the terms of service. But as Jeff said, Intuit doesn't enforce much of anything except against  regulars they perceive to be out of line.

The more I know, the more I don't know.
rbynaker
Level 13

I'm assuming this is just a way to get the bogus phone numbers "out there" so they can be picked up by search engines.  Then when someone calls, the "helpful" person on the other end will email them a convenient link [to malware] they can click on to "submit" their information to Quickbooks, Amtrak, JetBlue, etc.

The barn door has been wide open long enough that most of us have stopped bothering to ask for a lock on the door.  AFAIK anyone can create a new account and immediately post with no moderation.  Every other tax forum I'm on has some sort of front-end verification (either that you're a client of the software vendor or that you're a tax professional) or at the very least a short period where a moderator must approve new posts from new users.

But I think they would sell more tickets if the flights/trains took you to see the Mumbai dancing girls.

BobKamman
Level 15

@sjrcpa wrote:

 

Technically, having more than user name here violates the terms of service. 

 


Did you mean more than ONE user name?

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BobKamman
Level 15

@IRonMaN wrote:

You need nothing, other than the ability to create a username to get into this place.  For those of us that have been here since dirt, that has been the number one complaint since dirt.  Intuit doesn't like to potentially offend a potential new customer by locking the door, so they say "welcome" to anybody passing through -------------- including spammers when they want to flood the system.  This has happened before and it will happen again.


What this place needs is some experience volunteer monitors!

MonitorShirt1.jpg

 

IRonMaN
Level 15

That's impressive.  Do you have a badge to go with the shirt? 😀


Slava Ukraini!
BobKamman
Level 15

@IRonMaN wrote:

That's impressive.  Do you have a badge to go with the shirt? 😀


I think B. Traven answered that question in a novel, later made into a movie with Humphrey Bogart.  

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IRonMaN
Level 15

Who is B Traven and Humphrey Bogart?  

I thought I would throw that out there to help some of the young tax preparers just starting out.


Slava Ukraini!
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