Has anyone else noticed how the Marketplace Forum is being overrun? Spammers are posting the same information repeatedly and hijacking threads started by American vendors and abstractors. To a lesser degree this is also happening in the Jobs Board.

One example of thread hijacking that I found particularly offensive was when an abstractor in Maine legitimately posted an offer of services in her home state. Her thread has been hijacked by so-called abstractors pretending to be from New Jersey and Colorado but are actually residing in India or Pakistan. The Pakistani group said they would provide the same services for $3 an hour.


Some of the hijackers appear to be using their actual names while others are Americanizing their names to appear to be from the US. All are claiming to be from states they have probably never even visited. While many appear to be originating from Pakistan and India their may be other foreign pretenders whose true country of origin is harder to identify.

Warning to Legitimate US abstractors:
Some of these postings may be an attempt to gather competitor intel to better undercut your prices in online counties. Even worse, if you subsequently provide information they say need to file W9's such as your Federal EIN or Social Security number could be an attempt to gather information that could be used by foreign identity thieves.

Robert and Slade:
I don't know if you can do anything technologically or otherwise to prevent this takeover of one of your most helpful forums. I have visited with both of you and I know this was never your vision for Source of Title. Is there any way to verify that a subscriber is actually from the state they claim before allowing them to post?to post a reply: login - or - register