What is a spam attack?

Spam attacks are defined as an organized and unauthorized use of an app to send thousands of messages to its users. These messages are sent by fake or hacked profiles and often include unreal advertisements and links to which real users are asked to click on. Such attacks can have a large and negative impact on the user’s enjoyment of the app.

What does Hornet do to prevent spam attacks?

Hornet has always had a number of defenses to prevent spam attacks, and we’re regularly strengthening them. We can’t give you the exact details because we don’t want spammers to know what we’re doing. However, we can advise that we have brought some verification procedures that help us with that. 

What can I do to help?

If you ever receive an advertisement from other users promoting websites or stating that you won a prize, do NOT click the links. These attacks feed on the number of clicks these links have. The more clicks, the more they send spam messages; if there are no clicks, the spam attack would be pointless and would stop.

Instead, please report that account to us immediately. To report a spammer account, please follow these steps:

On Android
  • Open the other user’s profile
  • Tap the  icon on the upper right corner
  • Select Report
  • Choose a reason for reporting and use the comment field to tell us why you’re reporting that user
  • Submit your report by tapping OK
On iOS
  • Open the other user’s profile
  • Tap the  icon on the upper right corner
  • Select Report
  • Choose a reason for reporting and tap Report
  • In the comment field, tell us why you’re reporting that user
  • Submit your report by tapping Done
On Web
  • Open the other user’s profile
  • Tap the icon right next to the Follow button
  • Select Report
  • Choose a reason for reporting and use the comment field to tell us why you’re reporting that photo
  • Submit your report by clicking Report

It’s also important that you choose a very strong password. These are made of upper case letters, lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols – all in random order. Here are some examples (do not use them!):

  1. {7!Qb_8$LS8e7@AiX22%
  2. JpL9$6xjujB[qsVt

If you find them difficult to remember, you can use a password manager. They are readily available online and are often free to use.

If you cannot find a solution in our FAQ, please write to us at feedback@hornet.com. It is important that you include your Account ID so that we can trace your account. Your Account ID is located on your profile, on the top center of the screen, and begins with the “@” symbol.

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