Contact form spam in WordPress

Banner for article about contact form spam in WordPress

In WordPress, contact form spam remains a concern for many website owners. This spam issue refers to unsolicited messages, sent through website contact forms.

Bots automatically generate many of these spam messages. Some are irrelevant promotional messages, while others might be phishing attempts.

How does contact form spam happen

To fight spam, first need to know how it functions:

  1. Automated bots: Spambots, as mentioned, are automated programs. They’re designed to search the internet for contact forms. Once they find a form, they submit pre-filled information, often containing promotional content, links to questionable sites, or malicious code.
  2. Data harvesting: Some spammers want to use contact forms to scrape or harvest email addresses and other information, which can then be used for various questionable activities, including sending out mass spam emails or selling the data.
  3. Manual spamming: Bots don’t automate all contact form spam. Some individuals manually input them to promote a product, service, or link. While this is less common than automated spam because of the effort involved, it does occur.

What issues does contact form spam cause

Contact form spam can lead to many problems:

  1. User Experience (UX): Spam messages can be a significant distraction for website administrators. It makes it harder to spot legitimate inquiries, leading to potential lost business opportunities or missed communications.
  2. Security: Some spam messages might carry malicious intent, such as phishing links, malware, or attempts to exploit vulnerabilities in the website’s structure. Falling for such tricks could compromise a website or data.
  3. Server load: Continuous targeting of a website by spambots can increase load on server resources. A high volume of spam submissions can slow down the site or even cause it to crash.
  4. Email reputation: If spammers gain access to an email through a contact form, they can use it to send out spam. This can cause the blacklisting of email addresses or domains, which means legitimate emails might land in recipients’ spam folders.
  5. Data integrity: When analyzing data from contact forms, like feedback or survey results, spam entries can skew the results and reduce the value of the insights gained.
  6. Trustworthiness: If users perceive that a site is a target of extensive spam or if they receive spammy responses from a contact they believed to be secure, their trust in the website might change.

Once having understanding about this common issue, take actions to stop contact form spam in WordPress.

Conclusion

Contact form spam can have a range of negative consequences, from destroying user trust to presenting security threats. Thus, understanding the mechanisms behind this form of spam and implementing a multi-layered defense strategy can reduce its incidence and impact.