I'm being bombarded with Chinese SPAM!

I'm running Joomla Version 1.5.26 with ChronoForms 3.1 RC5.5 and during the past 2 weeks I have been getting a lot of SPAM.

I know I need to migrate to a newer version of Joomla but at the moment I can't do that.

Can anyone suggest what the problem is please and how I can resolve it..

Many thanks.

Hi busby,

If you an identify any kind of pattern in the spam then you can use Serverside validation filters to block those items. Patterns might include phrases that are often used, urls, some specific characters, IP address groups. Any of those will let you build a filter.

For example if 'Ugg' appears in the message text you could add something like this to the On Submit before Email box:

<?php
$mainframe =& JFactory::getApplication();
$message =& JRequest::getString('message', '', 'post');
if ( $message && strpos('Ugg', $message) !== false ) {
  $mainframe->redirect('index.php');
}
?>

Bob

This is typical of the messages I'm receiving:

Name: ポピーバッグ
E-Mail: [email]aomybbfkpg@gmail.com[/email]
Demo: http://www.gurugedara.org/送料無料-コーチ-coach-f18980-2way-ショルダーバッグ-ポピー-poppy-メタリッ-jp-2200.html
Info: The Grotesque {Truth|Fact|Actuality|Facts|Unavoidable truth|Honest truth} About Your Amazing japan Imagination

Name: ニコン レンズ
E-Mail: [email]tjdrde@gmail.com[/email]
Demo: http://www.ebmntc.com/ミラーレス一眼-japan-22.html
Info: bag {Got|Finally got} You Depressed? We Have The Best Solution

Name: エンポリオアルマーニ メンズ
E-Mail: [email]oeinpsykh@gmail.com[/email]
Demo: http://www.jawanfashion.com/エンポリオアルマーニemporio-armaniメンズダウンジャケット-2713572a340000-jp-2630.html
Info: Terminate Complaining And Commence your private men Seo campaign Instead

Any suggestions as to what filter I could use or better still, is there a version of ChronoForms which has a cachpa that works with my version of Joomla?

Hi busby,

There are Captcha and Recaptcha in ChronoForms v3 and you could add a honeypot (but none of these will block human spammers).

For a filter I suspect that the IP address might be good here but you haven't shown them. From the content I'd try the Demo input like this:

<?php
$mainframe =& JFactory::getApplication();
$message =& JRequest::getString('demo', '', 'post');
if ( $message && strpos('http::/www.', $message) === 0 && 
    ( strpos('-j-', $message) !== false || strpos('-japan-', $message) !== false) ) {
  $mainframe->redirect('index.php');
}
?>

Bob

Unforunatly I can't block 'Demo' because all mail will contain that..

Does ChronoForms V3 work with Joomla 1.5?

Hi busby,

I didn't say to block demo - just to use the contents to filter emails.

Yes, CFv4 will work on Joomla! 1.5 provided that you have the MooTools upgrade plug-in enabled (I think that was added around v1.5.11).

Bob

Thanks very much Bob - I'll take a look tomorrow - my html skills are limited, but hopfully I should be able to manage..

I just looked at the IP adresses and your right - they are all the same.

Is there an easy way to block it?

Hi busby,

Please see this FAQ it is for CFv4 but with the code examples in my earlier posts you should be able to adapt it to CFv3.

Bob

Sorry, I'm probaly a bit stupid in this area, I assume there is no way of editing the forms from the front end, so can you tell me please how to find the file I need to edit from the backend.

Thanks again 😀

Hi busby,

Site Admin | Components | ChronoContact will take you to the Forms Manager.

Bob

Hi Busby

You can block IP addresses by .htaccess as well.
This has nohing to do with CF, but instead you lock out the spammers from your whole website.

https://www.google.com/#q=htaccess+block+ip

Patrick

OK, thanks - I have added this to my .htaccess file:

Order Deny,Allow
Deny from 198.27.85.187

Fingers crossed it will stop..