[itsyaboy]

Maybe it's time to keep spamming the Twitter accounts of BlackBerry and BBM with screenshots of every random BBM invite you get.

I can't recommend BBM anymore to anyone... which is a real shame! Would really have liked people to come back to BBM, especially now that I have got BBM Protected, but why would people come back to a platform that allows harassment?

Posted via CB10

[Q10Bold]

Thanks emtek!!

#soon, later, later this year, fiscal year, commitment,...blablabla ~J.BlaBla Chen

[itsyaboy]

Thanks emtek!!

#soon, later, later this year, fiscal year, commitment,...blablabla ~J.BlaBla Chen

Isn't really fair to blame EMTEK for this... problems existed long before they got involved.

Posted via CB10

[chetmanley]

Maybe it's time to keep spamming the Twitter accounts of BlackBerry and BBM with screenshots of every random BBM invite you get.

I can't recommend BBM anymore to anyone... which is a real shame! Would really have liked people to come back to BBM, especially now that I have got BBM Protected, but why would people come back to a platform that allows harassment?

Posted via CB10

That is a great idea. All it would take is a toggle option to block invites.

I'm also having a tough time giving an honest recommendation for BBM these days. It doesn't matter how many new features they add to consumer BBM if it's constantly bombarding users with ads and BS invites. The app isn't popular enough to warrant a $1/month fee to remove ads (even whatsapp only charged $1/year), and even if they do pay for that, they still get the annoyance of random invites.

[Loc22]

I really think you guys don't know what you are talking about. Don't you get spam like these via WhatsApp, WeChat, snap chat, kik, line, etc??

I get spam from all apps including just SMS. There is no escape in modern day living. It has nothing to do with security.

[itsyaboy]

I really think you guys don't know what you are talking about. Don't you get spam like these via WhatsApp, WeChat, snap chat, kik, line, etc??

I get spam from all apps including just SMS. There is no escape in modern day living. It has nothing to do with security.

I am afraid your rudeness isn't really justified. In my area, hardly anyone has ever had spam via WhatsApp (or SMS which is rarely used these days). Otherwise WhatsApp wouldn't have grown as popular as it did. This doesn't mean your experience isn't true, it just means that there are regional differences. No need to take a superior position telling us we don't know what we're talking about.

You are right however that random invites doesn't necessarily mean a security problem. But I don't think we were discussing that. It is obviously very annoying to get random spam invites, irrespective of the platform! I refuse to accept that this is "modern day living".

Posted via CB10

[itsyaboy]

That is a great idea. All it would take is a toggle option to block invites.

I'm also having a tough time giving an honest recommendation for BBM these days. It doesn't matter how many new features they add to consumer BBM if it's constantly bombarding users with ads and BS invites. The app isn't popular enough to warrant a $1/month fee to remove ads (even whatsapp only charged $1/year), and even if they do pay for that, they still get the annoyance of random invites.

Yes, there must be multiple ways to re-invent the whole invitation process? Maybe even make it more fun while they are at it?

I wish people would be more willing to pay for internet services tough, as an alternative to data mining by such internet services. Free anything messed up whole generations' expectations.

Posted via CB10

[Uzi]

I am afraid your rudeness isn't really justified. In my area, hardly anyone has ever had spam via WhatsApp (or SMS which is rarely used these days). Otherwise WhatsApp wouldn't have grown as popular as it did. This doesn't mean your experience isn't true, it just means that there are regional differences. No need to take a superior position telling us we don't know what we're talking about.

You are right however that random invites doesn't necessarily mean a security problem. But I don't think we were discussing that. It is obviously very annoying to get random spam invites, irrespective of the platform! I refuse to accept that this is "modern day living".

Posted via CB10

I'm in the same region as him, Malaysia I didn't get a single spam message from Whatsapp. Sms yes

Posted via CB10

[valer466]

I really think you guys don't know what you are talking about. Don't you get spam like these via WhatsApp, WeChat, snap chat, kik, line, etc??

I get spam from all apps including just SMS. There is no escape in modern day living. It has nothing to do with security.

You've got a tendency to say "Oh so what WhatsApp has spam too"

Why can't you just admit that BBM is suffering with Spam for all non BB devices?

Any thread on BBM spam (and many of them), you just pop up and say "So what spam on WhatsApp, FB, etc etc"

[bobshine]

I really think you guys don't know what you are talking about. Don't you get spam like these via WhatsApp, WeChat, snap chat, kik, line, etc??

I get spam from all apps including just SMS. There is no escape in modern day living. It has nothing to do with security.

I think I can count with one hand the number of spam I received on Whatsapp since I started using it years ago. BBM, I get the same amount of spam in a week!

What is frustrating is that BBM should in theory have less spam since you need to accept someone before they can communicate with you... in addition that it's PIN based! Whereas whatsapp, it's just a phone number and my number is out there in the public (cause of my work).

So there's something wrong for sure

[Thud Hardsmack]

I really think you guys don't know what you are talking about. Don't you get spam like these via WhatsApp, WeChat, snap chat, kik, line, etc??

I get spam from all apps including just SMS. There is no escape in modern day living. It has nothing to do with security.

I get an extra "chat" in my BBM but nothing anywhere else.

[crackberry_geek]

I really think you guys don't know what you are talking about. Don't you get spam like these via WhatsApp, WeChat, snap chat, kik, line, etc??

I get spam from all apps including just SMS. There is no escape in modern day living. It has nothing to do with security.

None on Whatsapp
Very little on Kik...maybe once a month
Never on Line
Don't use Wechat
SMS maybe once every other month

BBM... often daily

Shame on you johnny!

[chetmanley]

Submit a ticket : BBM

I submitted a ticket to BBM regarding this issue. Their site says this support system can be uses not only for issues, but for complaints as well.

I propose that anyone frustrated with the random invite / advertising issues with BBM submit a message informing EMTEK of this issue, and any recommendations to fix it.

That said - after I submitted my ticket, I got an email stating that a new BBM account had just been made for me, and to click on the link to get the password (wtf....). Update: It appears to be a support desk account, logging in allows for access to the trouble ticket system.

[tarmy88]

I loaded BBM on an Android tablet that our kids received for Christmas. I wanted them to be able to keep in touch with me while on work trips, in a ”safe and secure" environment. I am their only legitimate contact but they have been receiving a constant stream of random invites from someone in who knows where. Needless to say, my wife is NOT happy. As it doesn't sound like there is a solution, I'm going to have to remove BBM and look for another option.

A lot of people seem to be doing this.

[Loc22]

Hello everyone spam does not equal security!!!

I get it from BBM too maybe 1 in every 2 to 3 months on my Android.

WhatsApp every other day
Line every now and then
WeChat 1 or 2 a week
SMS every day

I still believe it has nothing to do with security.

I have also received telemarketing calls and they have no information about me. So when I asked them how they got my number. The reply was "sir, I have no number to call so I just punch on the phone and talk to people."

So tell me how is it possible to stop people from just dialing your number or sending messages to your BBM ID if this is the case?

[bobshine]

Hello everyone spam does not equal security!!!

I get it from BBM too maybe 1 in every 2 to 3 months on my Android.

WhatsApp every other day
Line every now and then
WeChat 1 or 2 a week
SMS every day

I still believe it has nothing to do with security.

I have also received telemarketing calls and they have no information about me. So when I asked them how they got my number. The reply was "sir, I have no number to call so I just punch on the phone and talk to people."

So tell me how is it possible to stop people from just dialing your number or sending messages to your BBM ID if this is the case?

Spam doesn't work that way... it's too slow. The way it works it that it has to send the same message to millions of "pins" at the same time since they probably has no way to know which one are good and which are not.

Spam filters learn and recognize those spams and will filter them out. They learn patterns... some even use AI to filter spam out.

And yes, contrary to what you say, spam is a huge security issue. Most of them of fishing schemes.

[Technarch]

My PIN starts with a 5, but I am currently using it on an Android device (I log in using email). I get lots of invite spam too. Not sure if it stays a 5 on the BB10 device.

I agree it is a problem, along with the ads. I don't think BB has good management or direction of their software portfolio, but this is not news to people here.

[chetmanley]

My PIN starts with a 5, but I am currently using it on an Android device (I log in using email). I get lots of invite spam too. Not sure if it stays a 5 on the BB10 device.

If you switched your BBID to a BB10 device, the pin would change to the pin associated with that BB10 device. All of my BB10 devices start with 2s

[dusdal]

I wonder if there is some merit to the idea of adding a custom pin to avoid the spam.

I get loads of invites on my Priv and none on my passport and my passport account has a custom pin.

Though I can't imagine the casual being willing to shell out $12/yr to make it stop.

Posted via CB10

[ray689]

I wonder if there is some merit to the idea of adding a custom pin to avoid the spam.

I get loads of invites on my Priv and none on my passport and my passport account has a custom pin.

Though I can't imagine the casual being willing to shell out $12/yr to make it stop.

Posted via CB10

Nope doesn't do anything. The custom PIN doesn't replace your PIN, its just a second PIN really.

[dusdal]

Nope doesn't do anything. The custom PIN doesn't replace your PIN, its just a second PIN really.

Oh right. Good point.

Posted via CB10

[Loc22]

Spam doesn't work that way... it's too slow. The way it works it that it has to send the same message to millions of "pins" at the same time since they probably has no way to know which one are good and which are not.

Spam filters learn and recognize those spams and will filter them out. They learn patterns... some even use AI to filter spam out.

And yes, contrary to what you say, spam is a huge security issue. Most of them of fishing schemes.

I don't agree with you. If these invites are done through usage of a pin generator then I'm sure they would have sent the invite to thousands if not millions of BBM users hence there are so many complaints.

I don't seem to see it the way you do. What I'm thinking that some of you guys are asking for is like having a phone number that nobody can call unless you have registered their phone number onto your phone book. I think it sounds pretty bizarre for any company who would want to come out with such a product.

[anon(580947)]

I'm receiving daily spam on BBM, as well as my wife. It's very annoying and I can't believe that Emtek/BB would allow this with all the supposed focus on software, privacy and security. It's sad really. Also, all of the spam is coming from Indonesia. The invites are in the Bahasa language. This needs to stop. I don't get any on my bb10 device but the android app is constant. I'm going to have to stop using it and find something else. This is ridiculous.

Posted via CB10

[chetmanley]

I recommend everyone submit a complaint to Emtek via this page. its the only way its going to change.

Submit a ticket : BBM

[bobshine]

I don't agree with you. If these invites are done through usage of a pin generator then I'm sure they would have sent the invite to thousands if not millions of BBM users hence there are so many complaints.

I don't seem to see it the way you do. What I'm thinking that some of you guys are asking for is like having a phone number that nobody can call unless you have registered their phone number onto your phone book. I think it sounds pretty bizarre for any company who would want to come out with such a product.

Well exactly... if they sent it to thousands at the same time, then there's a pattern and it's possible to block them. How do you think email spam filters works???

Just like sms spams... they use a generator to generate numbers. My carrier filters them out.