Run of spam email using contact form?

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Morticia

Morticia

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Joined
May 22, 2008
Messages
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I've been getting 4-6 spam emails everyday for the past week using my contact form. It's the same email address per day, different email each day, different domain each day.
I've blocked the offending emails and domains from hitting my inbox but I can't make them stop at the form.
My contact form uses captcha input, but it doesn't seem to be stopping all of the spam. Any ideas?
 
Change your widget. If it is a free one you can run updates for security or change to a diff one altogether. Turn it off for the time being. (what i would do)
 
That's my suggestion too. Find a better captcha.
 
I removed the form. Apparently the form I had is a very good one, so I don't know where to go from here. If you want to send an email, click the link, but no more form. And, thus far, no more spam. It's like they bookmarked the form and kept hitting it every few hours.
 
Morticia said:
I removed the form. Apparently the form I had is a very good one, so I don't know where to go from here. If you want to send an email, click the link, but no more form. And, thus far, no more spam. It's like they bookmarked the form and kept hitting it every few hours..
Click to expand...
I have been using Caldera forms recently. No captcha because they say they have other protections.
Speaking as one who had my century link email hacked yesterday Grrrrrrrr
 
Morticia said:
I removed the form. Apparently the form I had is a very good one, so I don't know where to go from here. If you want to send an email, click the link, but no more form. And, thus far, no more spam. It's like they bookmarked the form and kept hitting it every few hours..
Click to expand...
I use Gravity, very little spam, ever.
 
Generic said:
Morticia said:
I removed the form. Apparently the form I had is a very good one, so I don't know where to go from here. If you want to send an email, click the link, but no more form. And, thus far, no more spam. It's like they bookmarked the form and kept hitting it every few hours..
Click to expand...
I use Gravity, very little spam, ever.
.
Click to expand...
Yes agreed, the gravity forms plugin with the honeypot spam protection turned on is definitely the way to go.
Some captcha's make it difficult for customers to even contact you so gravity form's honeypot spam protection does all the work behind the scenes without inconveniencing your potential guests.
 
Morticia said:
So far so good with out the form altogether..
Click to expand...
Just a heads up having your email address plain out in the open in the long term will result in far more spam emails than a contact form would.
Your email address out in the open will cause it to get added to spam email lists, whereas with a contact form you only receive spam when a bot automatically scours the web for forms to submit. Once you fix the underlying issue of the form, the spam will stop...but once you're added to spam email lists it's near impossible to make it stop.
Simply adding a good captcha or honeypot to your form will resolve the issue.
One other downside to consider about using just an email address without a contact form is probably about 50% of your traffic is desktop and most of those users don't have an email program setup as they use a webmail service so when they click on your email link it doesn't work because their computer is asking them to setup outlook, windows mail, etc. So might make it slightly more difficult for less adept users to get in contact with you. Just food for thought..
 
himelhochbb said:
Morticia said:
So far so good with out the form altogether..
Click to expand...
Just a heads up having your email address plain out in the open in the long term will result in far more spam emails than a contact form would.
Your email address out in the open will cause it to get added to spam email lists, whereas with a contact form you only receive spam when a bot automatically scours the web for forms to submit. Once you fix the underlying issue of the form, the spam will stop...but once you're added to spam email lists it's near impossible to make it stop.
Simply adding a good captcha or honeypot to your form will resolve the issue.
One other downside to consider about using just an email address without a contact form is probably about 50% of your traffic is desktop and most of those users don't have an email program setup as they use a webmail service so when they click on your email link it doesn't work because their computer is asking them to setup outlook, windows mail, etc. So might make it slightly more difficult for less adept users to get in contact with you. Just food for thought..
.
Click to expand...
I've had the email listed and linked for 12 years. The lack of linked email program is more troubling. I'll continue the search for a form that works. Although, if someone has been using unlinked email they know how to cut and paste. Unless they just got their smartphone and don't want to receive email on it, then I guess they have to call.
 
Morticia said:
himelhochbb said:
Morticia said:
So far so good with out the form altogether..
Click to expand...
Just a heads up having your email address plain out in the open in the long term will result in far more spam emails than a contact form would.
Your email address out in the open will cause it to get added to spam email lists, whereas with a contact form you only receive spam when a bot automatically scours the web for forms to submit. Once you fix the underlying issue of the form, the spam will stop...but once you're added to spam email lists it's near impossible to make it stop.
Simply adding a good captcha or honeypot to your form will resolve the issue.
One other downside to consider about using just an email address without a contact form is probably about 50% of your traffic is desktop and most of those users don't have an email program setup as they use a webmail service so when they click on your email link it doesn't work because their computer is asking them to setup outlook, windows mail, etc. So might make it slightly more difficult for less adept users to get in contact with you. Just food for thought..
.
Click to expand...
I've had the email listed and linked for 12 years. The lack of linked email program is more troubling. I'll continue the search for a form that works. Although, if someone has been using unlinked email they know how to cut and paste. Unless they just got their smartphone and don't want to receive email on it, then I guess they have to call.
.
Click to expand...
Give Caldera a try. But Fast Secure Contact form is one of the best plugins out there according to the number of downloads it has had. Have you updated it? I would give it another try before you switch to something else.
 
EmptyNest said:
Morticia said:
himelhochbb said:
Morticia said:
So far so good with out the form altogether..
Click to expand...
Just a heads up having your email address plain out in the open in the long term will result in far more spam emails than a contact form would.
Your email address out in the open will cause it to get added to spam email lists, whereas with a contact form you only receive spam when a bot automatically scours the web for forms to submit. Once you fix the underlying issue of the form, the spam will stop...but once you're added to spam email lists it's near impossible to make it stop.
Simply adding a good captcha or honeypot to your form will resolve the issue.
One other downside to consider about using just an email address without a contact form is probably about 50% of your traffic is desktop and most of those users don't have an email program setup as they use a webmail service so when they click on your email link it doesn't work because their computer is asking them to setup outlook, windows mail, etc. So might make it slightly more difficult for less adept users to get in contact with you. Just food for thought..
.
Click to expand...
I've had the email listed and linked for 12 years. The lack of linked email program is more troubling. I'll continue the search for a form that works. Although, if someone has been using unlinked email they know how to cut and paste. Unless they just got their smartphone and don't want to receive email on it, then I guess they have to call.
.
Click to expand...
Give Caldera a try. But Fast Secure Contact form is one of the best plugins out there according to the number of downloads it has had. Have you updated it? I would give it another try before you switch to something else.
.
Click to expand...
Before I turned it off I went thru the setup again to be sure it was setup right. I waited a few days and was still getting the spam. I'll try it again.
 

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