Fighting Back Against Pinterest Spam

If you're a user of Pinterest and you're anything like me, you're supremely frustrated at the inundation of spam taking over the site. What used to be contained mostly to the Beauty and Fashion areas, has spread to every board I once loved.

Pinterest is supposedly making changes to thwart spammers, but in my experience it's only getting worse. Unfortunately, spammers will always find a way. In my opinion, we the users need to step up our game.

The biggest issue I see is that unsuspecting users repin images that link to spam and phishing websites because they haven't checked the source website.

Here's a typical snapshot of the Food and Drinks category on Pinterest. A good portion of the pins, as you can see, are spam. If you're one that repins recipes based on the picture and description alone, you are most likely spreading spam and malicious links.

A hallmark of spam links parading as recipes, are the wordy descriptions. That's my first clue that this might be spam.

The second clue is the bizarre website name.

 Third clue is the board name. "Yummy Recipes" are almost always boards full of spam links.

Click on the link and you'll find yourself here. Ah yes, pi.nterest.info. Seems legit! I don't have screen caps for "clicking here" to claim my prize, since obviously I didn't.

Now, back in the original picture you'll notice that professional looking Neapolitan cake. That image did not initially raise a flag, but when I clicked on it, sure enough:

The sad part is the cake tutorial is real! Just a few rows down, a legit pin contained a real link. 

This blogger is losing out on pins/views because the spammers stole the image. 

So, to sum things up:

1. Check the source website before you repin! 

2. When you find a spam link, use the report button!