Careful of spammers

At SpandexGuys for the past 14 years we’ve been aiming to create a safe environment for everyone.  Yet the Internet remains a place of anonymity and with that there are people who try to make a quick buck here and there. Because of that we need to keep reminding you to be cautious with whom you associate online.

Despite our best efforts there will be some individuals who will create a profile with the intent to sell you something or otherwise make money off you. Obviously we try our best to delete profiles who are proven to be fakes or those who ignore our requests to play fair.

Spamming  and unsolicited/unauthorized advertising is that we consider unacceptable behavior which are reasons for us to terminate an account/profile.

Many spammers have taken some creative steps to hide their intentions so we thought we’d give you some hints of what to watch out for.

• People may half-heartedly create a profile or create one which has nothing to do with the theme of the site.
• People who use picture of others, online catalogues or websites
• People who out of the blue contact you professing their admiration but want you to contact them via a Yahoo or Skype ID
• People who have no pictures but tell you they have them on a different site
• People asking you to go to another website and sign up there

If you are approached by anyone please be careful. Someone may genuinely be interested in you but many people trying to scam others have used the above tactics to get chummy with someone.

If someone approaches you trying to sell or trade lycra gear then be very cautious and make sure that you go through a reputable mediator such as your favorite online auction website and use only secure methods of payment where you can have some hope of getting your money back. Insist on having any goods mailed via registered mail, in other words a transportation means that is under constant scrutiny and control and requires the package to be signed for upon delivery.

We don’t monitor members’ conversations, IMs, messages etc. it would be a breach of trust, unethical and a logistical nightmare. Therefore we urge you to be very careful when dealing with people you don’t know or have not had a chance to get to know. Be careful with your money, with your identity and take care not to divulge and give out personal information as we cannot be Big Brother and accept liability for your actions. Be streetsmart!

REMEMBER:

• Never give out your password to anyone, not even if they say they are working for SpandexGuys. While we cannot see what your password is we can always temporarily change it if we need to access your profile for you, and then change it back to what you had.
• Never give out your real name, street address, phone numbers unless you are certain you feel comfortable with that person and know you can trust him.
• If you trade with someone you have to take the full risk of doing so. You can add some level of protection by trading inside of online auction sites and using payment systems that help add another layer of buyer’s protection. Make sure they offer to refund your money if things go sour. Also, insist on having items shipped via a traceable service, whenever possible.