this post was submitted on 11 Apr 2025
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MODERATORS
 

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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[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 hours ago

This is some small internet bullshit i'm here for

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 day ago (1 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 1 points 57 minutes ago* (last edited 56 minutes ago)

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

[–] [email protected] 23 points 1 day ago (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 minutes ago

I'll give it a go

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 day ago

Understandable.

[–] [email protected] 43 points 2 days ago (3 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 13 hours 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?

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

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

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 days ago (3 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago

At least 4 or 5.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 days ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

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.

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[–] [email protected] 24 points 2 days ago (2 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 18 points 2 days 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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[–] [email protected] 19 points 2 days ago (2 children)

I've been thinking this since it started and saying it for a bit. I don't understand at all how there were memes of this on the front page all the time and it took this long to do even this. Has there been any attempt at an effort to notify whoever is in the picture that this is happening? I would like to help if possible.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I think "notify her" feeds the harassment they're referring to, even if contacting her is well intended

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

I mean depending how its handled and on context, yes of course, but I'm not suggesting we traumatize this person further than whatever has already happened. Like someone else said letting the university is a decent first step.

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[–] [email protected] 325 points 3 days ago (8 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 211 points 3 days ago (13 children)

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

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[–] [email protected] 19 points 2 days ago (10 children)

I can't believe I managed to never get one of these spam messages. I didn't even know what a Nicole was until the week or two ago.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Don't say it out loud! I said the same thing a couple weeks ago, and it's a weekly thing now.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Beet....

Wait, what movie am I watching again?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

Yes. I too feel left out.

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[–] [email protected] 256 points 3 days ago (7 children)

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.

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[–] [email protected] 119 points 3 days ago (10 children)

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

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[–] [email protected] 153 points 3 days ago (4 children)

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

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[–] [email protected] 71 points 3 days ago (2 children)

About damn time. The joke has run it's course a long time a ago and if these posts are victimizing an individual they most definitely need to be stopped.

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[–] [email protected] 33 points 2 days ago (11 children)
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[–] [email protected] 67 points 3 days ago (12 children)

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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[–] [email protected] 38 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Damn, I never thought about it this way. Wow. I always took it as a funny thing not thinking of the person in the photo being an actual person who could very well be harassed. Thank you for bringing this to light. Whoever thought of this is a good human being. <3

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[–] [email protected] 83 points 3 days ago (14 children)

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

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