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submitted 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) by lwadmin@lemmy.world to c/lemmyworld@lemmy.world

Hello world,

as many of you may already be aware, there is an ongoing spam attack by a person claiming to be Nicole.

It is very likely that these images are part of a larger scale harassment campaign against the person depicted in the images shared as part of this spam.

Although the spammer claims to be the person in the picture, we strongly believe that this is not the case and that they're only trying to frame them.

Starting immediately, we will remove any images depicting "Nicole" and information that may lead to identifying the real person depicted in those images to prevent any possible harassment.
This includes older posts and comments once identified.

We also expect moderators to take action if such content is reported.

While we do not intend to punish people posting this once, not being aware of the context, we may take additional actions if they continue to post this content, as we consider this to be supporting the harassment campaign.

Discussion that does not include the images themselves or references that may lead to identifying the real person behind the image will continue to be allowed.

If you receive spam PMs please continue reporting them and we'll continue working on our spam detections to attempt to identify them early before they reach many users.

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[-] yarr@feddit.nl 12 points 1 month ago

This annoys the fuck out of me and I hope whoever is behind it doesn't realize their goals, because I don't want lemmy to degrade into a bunch of spam PMs.

[-] douglasg14b@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago

TBF, it's bound to happen.

Guaranteed almost.

Lemmy has minimal controls for protecting against spam and bot spam. It's built to handle the internet 5 to 10 years ago, not the internet today.

I can only hope that this changes because as soon as the platform becomes popular enough (which it is slowly). Then the rate of bot spam and other sorts of spam will just go through the roof, and there's very little that admins can do to combat it without it becoming a full-time job.

[-] KeenFlame@feddit.nu 3 points 1 month ago

We can have an opt in spam filter that makes it harder, the instances can defederate spamming instances (user) unless they do something which yes there is a lot admins can do at signup. Or have I misunderstood something?

[-] random_character_a@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

I don't either want to see story on TV about Internet hacker group "Lenny" destroying womans life by a persistent harassment campaign.

[-] ripcord@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago

I finally got one a week ago. Have many of you gotten them?

[-] Perhapsjustsniffit@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

There's an entire community of people who get them. I think it's called "Nicoled" but likely shitting down now. Some people were getting up to tens per day.

[-] FearMeAndDecay@literature.cafe 1 points 1 month ago

Jfc I got my first today and was like “oh wow it’s real.” Can’t believe some people are getting multiple a day. That would be annoying as hell

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[-] Mpatch@lemmy.world 11 points 1 month ago

I gotta give it to you guys. The foresight to prevent a disaster is 10/10. Top tier. Well done.

[-] MrKaplan@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

to be honest, this should have been done way earlier.

[-] 5too@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

Still glad you're doing it now!

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[-] zorrothefox2001@lemmy.world 10 points 1 month ago

This is some small internet bullshit i'm here for

[-] stormdahl@lemmy.world 10 points 1 month ago

Oh, I think I got one of those. It's that girl with the bong, right?

[-] Zomg@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Yes, but there are a few pictures around from all of it

[-] Scott_of_the_Arctic@lemmy.world 9 points 1 month ago

I've heard that if you actually add her on friendica, the mayor of Toronto shows up at your house and gives you an old fashioned.

[-] Woht24@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

I'll give it a go

[-] daggermoon@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

Understandable.

[-] ThePyroPython@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

I can't wait for the future 4 hour video deep dive into Nicole history and lore.

[-] CarbonatedPastaSauce@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

Yeah it seemed funny at first but the longer this went on the creepier it got as we all realized this isn't just a catfish.

Whoever is doing this to the actual person in the photos is a terrible human being and should go climb under a rock for the rest of their lives.

[-] recklessengagement@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

Agreed. When the images started to change it got really creepy.

[-] SkaveRat@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 1 month ago

Wait, there are people who genuinely believe she's the one behind it?

I thought it was pretty obvious that she's the target of harassment. Some people must be new to the Internet

[-] ilinamorato@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago

Yeah, I've been targeted by enough romance spam that I just assume any photo of a woman I don't know was probably stolen from some random Tumblr or Instagram.

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[-] Cornpop@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago

Who is Nicole and why should I care?

[-] drmoose@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago

It's a lemmy specific spam where someone's pretending to be a girl from Canada and calling themselves Nicole. Mostly through private messages tho.

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[-] jaybone@lemmy.zip 1 points 1 month ago

Is this Nicole thing really still a thing? That’s so like back when I still had a 401k.

[-] HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago

My government salutes you!

[-] Strawberry@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 1 month ago

Considering the spammer has used so many different photos, and they all seem to be "in the moment" webcam photos, I suspect they may have webcam spyware on the victim's computer

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[-] FizzlePopBerryTwist@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago

I have no context for this and thought it was an April fools joke left up but no, this is a real problem here?

[-] GoodLuckToFriends@lemmy.today 1 points 1 month ago

I think I've gotten about 5 messages in total. Multiply that across the fediverse, and that's potentially a lot of irritation.

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this post was submitted on 11 Apr 2025
71 points (96.1% liked)

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