Nasty Flickr messages

Well, that was disturbing. I got a notification that someone sent me a note on Flickr, and I had four messages from four different users:

• Why did you post pornographic images on my photo?.
• I Don’t get the mail you just sent me, are you trying to call me a pedophile?.
• Do that again and i will call the cops..
• You have been reported to flickr..

Needless to say, I was more than a little freaked. And when I tried to reply to any of them, it said my account had been blocked.

I did a bit of research, and apparently this is a widespread and growing problem with Flickr. The accounts are legitimate, but the owners are not aware that their accounts are being used. They have somehow given up their Yahoo! IDs and passwords to some sort of phishing expedition, likely an offer of a photo award. There’s a detailed explanation on Flickr, which has really done very little to settle the curdled feeling in my stomach.

I can’t help but wonder if it’s coincidence that I got these messages mere days after joining a discussion group attached to the photo pool I told you about, where images of kids are being “stolen” from Flickr to create fake profiles on Orkut.

Sigh.

Just wanted to tell you about it in case it happens to you.

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Tagged as: Flickr