Don't Sign Up for Quechup

I recently received an invite to join Quechup (I don't want to link to it).

Someone I work with told me it was a scam and so I thought I'd check it out so we could write about it for the security site I work for. I signed up and when it asked me if I wanted to send invites to the friends in my e-mail inbox, I declined. Then I deleted my account.

A few days passed and then today I started getting notifications that I had been sending requests to people to join Quechup. Even though I declined when it asked if I wanted to invite friends, even though I deleted my account three days ago, it still sent a spam message to every contact in my gmail inbox. That was over 700 people, not including the listserves I belong to.

So, if you got a message from me, please don't register. I'm not on that network and I don't recommend their sneaky spam tactics. The message they sent on my behalf is not a virus. It won't damage your computer, but if you sign up it might send messages to everyone in your e-mail inbox.

The worst part is that I tried to send apologies and I got so many returned e-mails that now Gmail has suspended my ability to send e-mail for 24hrs. They think I'm a spammer.

My only consolation is that this spam has given me the chance to reconnect to lots of people I haven't talked to in a while. Also, I'm not the only one who's angry about this. See more posts about it here:

• Quechup is Rotten
• Are you Getting Quechup Spammed?
• Wired: Quechup the Social Networking Platform Sweeping the Globe (via Spam)

Comments

[whit]

I joined, saw that the person that invited me was not the person I know, despite using their email, and left much like you did. I hope I'm not sending out spam.

[Paul Cyopick]

I got your email, but luckily I read how horrible this was already from mashable.com, among others.

Nothing's worse than your friends and colleges thinking you've sent something your recommending, and it ends up being spam. Don't worry, the informed one's on your email list won't be upset at all, at least I'm not. Unfortunately, stuff like this happens.

[Krav Mom]

I also got one of these invitations this week. I complained about it on my blog as well. I didn't even know that a web site could access my address book without me giving it permission -- and I consider myself to be pretty technologically saavy. Hopefully the more we get the word out about this scam, the fewer people will get duped. Very frustrating.

[Molly]

I also got an invite from you and I joined. I should have read this before I joined. Hope I don't send out spamming e-mails.
Thanks for letting us know anyway. :)

[magicpointeshoe]

LOL! About a month ago all of the birthmother bloggers I'm fond of fell sucker for it too. As soon as I saw your name attached I giggled a bit and clicked delete. Besides, of all people who were going to invite me personally to anything on the internets, I doubt it would be from you who I've emailed with all of three times over five years.

[Karen]

Yup, I got scammed by it too!
http://www.pediascribe.com/20070901/hold-the-quechup/

[Dale]

I got about a dozen of these over the past 10 days. One was from someone who never even signed up for Quechup, so he's wondering how they got his Gmail address book info.

We covered this on our show this week. Note that the site has no mention/apology, so it's apparently not just a glitch. If this is deliberate, I hope the negative press puts them out of business. Sounds harsh, I don't look forward to continuing to get these for years to come.

[wayne_in_akron]

I wish someone would/could explain how they are accessing the email addresses from the gmail account.

That part is the most disturbing of all to me.

[niki]

I got your invitation and joined too. And here I thought you really liked me :( just joking.... of course I like a dummy used my work address but so far still have my job :)