The Rise of AI-Driven Scraping and Hallucinated Sales Funnels

A recent discussion on Hacker News has highlighted a concerning trend in digital outreach: the use of AI to scrape profile data and generate "hallucinated" reasons for contact. When users share their email addresses on public profiles—a common practice among developers and open-source contributors—they are increasingly becoming targets for sophisticated, automated spam campaigns that mimic personalized engagement.

The Anatomy of a 'Hallucinated' Sales Pitch

In a recent report by user @stackghost, a user received an email from hello@mindie.dev promoting a tool called TimeChat. The email claimed the sender had seen a specific Hacker News comment regarding freelance time tracking and invoicing. However, the recipient noted that they had never mentioned these topics in their comment history, except for a single, peripheral mention of an invoice a year prior.

This reveals a tactical shift in spamming. Rather than sending a generic blast, the spammer is using AI to generate a plausible-sounding reason for the outreach. By claiming to have "seen your comment on [Topic X]," the spammer attempts to grease the sales funnel by creating a fake sense of relevance.

As user @Elfener noted, different recipients received entirely different emails for the same product, suggesting that the AI is generating unique, personalized hooks for every target. This "hallucination" of interest is a deceptive practice designed to bypass the same mental filters we use to ignore generic spam.

The Failure of the 'Unsubscribe' Mechanism

One of the most alarming aspects of these campaigns is the lack of a legitimate opt-out mechanism. In the case of the Mindie.dev campaign, the email instructed users to "Reply STOP to never email again."

However, when the user attempted to do so, the email bounced. This is a classic hallmark of a phishing or deceptive marketing campaign: providing the illusion of a legitimate business process (like an unsubscribe link or keyword) while having no intention of honoring it. This leads users to believe they are interacting with a legitimate service, further increasing the risk of phishing.

Community Reactions and the Security Risk

The Hacker News community's reaction has been a mix of frustration and frustration. Some users reported receiving similar emails promoting different products, such as "InboxKit," with a similar pattern of personalized hooks based on alleged HN comments.

I suspect that this is pure phishing, not an attempt to sell a product.

This sentiment, shared by user @dsr_, suggests that these campaigns may not be just about selling low-cost SaaS tools, but could be potentially more malicious. When a spammer is using AI to generate fake reasons for contact, the honesty of the product itself is likely compromised.

How to Protect Your Profile

Given the current climate, the 'communal feel' of having open emails on profiles is becoming increasingly risky. For developers and contributors who wish to remain reachable, several strategies are recommended:

• Remove Public Emails: The most immediate solution is to remove email addresses from public profiles to prevent scraping.
• Use Dedicated Alias Emails: For use GitHub or other developer platforms, utilize dedicated email aliases that can be filtered aggressively.
• Use SSO and Filtering: While some users, like @threecheese, expressed concern about the use of GitHub SSO for various tools, maintaining a dedicated account for public-facing activities can help isolate the riesgo.

This wave of AI-driven scraping demonstrates that a new era of spam is arriving. By leveraging AI to generate fake personalization, spammers are now able to bypass traditional trust signals, and the community must shift toward a more cautious approach to public profile data.