How do I report private-message-spam by community users?

[Cassian]

I've had a very spammy private message here in the community forums and I'd like to report this person for being generally annoying and possibly violating some community guidelines.

Does anyone know if there is a specific way to do that?

[KateFitbit]

We merged a few posts to keep the conversation focused and address all affected users together. 

@SoulDance30 we don't have a way to report unwanted friend requests at this time, but posting here is a good way to ensure your voice is heard, we are sharing these comments with our team. 

@albertomn Sorry to hear about your account, I see you deleted the About Me, good! In my post above I link to our help article on how this can happen. The Fitbit site itself has not compromised, the most common way for an account to be taken over is for an attacker to learn the correct username and password associated with the account. This is why recommend changing your password to a unique password not associated with any other online site. 

[AmyAnn]

I'm getting the same thing.  

[Davo777]

I had a change of account email saying ive tried to change my email address when i havent and my name on my fitbit app has changed from dave l to brett b

[KateFitbit]

@AmyAnn Welcome, thanks for visiting the Community forum. Thanks for your report, if you are getting unwanted friend requests, you should ignore them. 

@Davo777 Thanks for reaching out. I'm sorry to hear this, I see you have a support case and someone from our team will be reaching out to you today. 

[SunsetRunner]

Received another "friend" request from 

Etisne E. 

joined Apr 07, 2017

about me has an inappropriate world wide web url 

It looks as though Fitbit has some issues it needs to work out. 

[michome]

Hi, I just received another one today. Username Ali D. I think I'm going to log off the fit bit for a while now.

Thank you,

[SunsetRunner]

In agreement. Very disappointing. I'm very careful with my online useage and this is not something I signed up for. 

[KateFitbit]

@michome, @SunsetRunner Thank you for alerting us to these unwanted messages, I know it is frustrating and we'll take action to remove users sending these messages.

We're also making changes to block future actions like this, and we will implement them soon.

[RossTheBoss]

Okay, so recently...

There have been some bots lurking around the mobile apps. This is not cool. My idea:

Community Moderators can,

- Remove Unrelated/Spam posts

- Ban Users from Communities

- Make community rules

- Give HELP to those who need it from a standpoint of community/group issues.

- Stop comment bullying

- etc.

I think I would make a good community mod. I have been a mod on some Google+ communities, and I know how to manage a group. I also think there are a lot of issues to take care of in the Fitbit apps, and someone needs to do it. I think I can help.

Sincerely,

Moderator edit: personal info removed

[MzP]

Thanks @SunsetRunner for posting your message. Under the community Feature Suggestions another Fitbit user has posted a suggestion that we need a Report A Spammer/user link (you can go there to vote for the idea). One of the moderators here has suggested that a hacker may have figured out people’s passwords and this is how they are updating people’s profile messages or their user names and that Fitbit has not been compromised. Considering how many big companies are getting hacked and don’t come out with the real story until months or years later I do not have high confidence that this is the truth. In the meanwhile I think it’s important that people continuously check their profile message to make sure that what is on there is what you put there. I did not realize that this might be happening regarding stolen identities here but it makes sense. I have kept the very first spammer Friend Request unaccepted to see if there is any change and over the course of a few weeks the web link has changed, the messaging changed, profile name and pic stayed the same.  Today I noticed that on the account bio the mesage is gone as well as the link, now it just looks normal. So it makes me wonder if this person was hacked and had no idea that their Fitbit identity was being used to lure people to the website and maybe they just now figured it out.

[Wortho7877]

Simply tell them to stop but if it keeps happening and you begin to feel threatened you can not only report them to Fitbit but you can also report them to the police if you feel it serious enough (especially if you have some bad blood with them).

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[CRHill]

Hi Matthew, I received a friend request from someone I don't know and there is an inappropriate link in his profile.  I blocked him but thought it should be reported.  I screen printed the message.  What do I do now?

[sants]

OK.. I and others have had nasty comments off a person called Nicole they have no profile pic. And the community, And myself  are finding them vile and annoying. Please help.

[dansansalsan]

Hi Matthew and Allison,  Please tell me that someone at FitBit is working on a "Report" button so that all the women who are being harassed by the scammers posing as FitBit users can get them off this website. Thanks, Danna

[MzP]

Hi @dansansalsan,what type of harassment are you experiencing? I have had a strange increase of men with zero visible friends or steps all of a sudden trying to friend request. It’s great making new Fitbit friends but I don’t care for folks who are trolling the site to want to move conversations to other sites for “chats”.

It’s becoming more difficult to know who are legit steppers. I thought the same thing you did, re hackers posting,  as some profile pics looked like male model stock photos. Real bizarre.  

[CRHill]

I have a screen print of an offending message. It's attached.

Moderator edit: personal info removed

[Katie2211]

I have been contacted by all of these people who are clearly using FitBit as if it was a dating site. They always have ‘no recent activity’ and most don’t post anything. These are the names that I have got at the moment: Mike J, George W, Lee P, Francisco J, Mark C and Jeff A

[JoDar]

@Katie2211 Let's add Nelson H, Anthony G, Fridley M, Jeff M, Wilson M to that list as well!

[SunsetRunner]

I have been contacted by two men who are trying to get a date with me. I told them both that I am married, they both continued to contact me. I have blocked them both!   Jay M and Bravo Andy C (who gave me his email address BravoAndy81@ gmail.com) 

[jennNjuice288]

I wish there was a way to just turn off private messaging all together. 😕