[Spike in dubious messages]

Hi there guys! This is my first post on the Forums, but it's about an issue that hit me hard these past 2 days.

I usually get your typical "hi" and then "i can do your work for you" messages about 1-2 times per day. I usually just reply with "hi" and try to see it as a way to keep my response time up.

I have just returned from a week-long out-of-office period yesterday, and just yesterday, I received 34 dubious messages, most of them being exactly those "pls can u help i need money i can do work for u" messages. It was just the same today, where over the course of the day I received 46 (!!!!) messages.

Is anyone else noticing a spike in these beggar messages? I seriously don't know how to handle them anymore. I contacted support, but they say all I can do is mark them as spam. But technically it isn't spam when someone messages me "hi", even though I usually know exactly where this is going.

I'm at a loss here - I really don't know how I will be able to maintain my response time if I get an onslaught like this every day, not to mention that it is such a huge waste of time.

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on this!