Why am I receiving so many spam messages in my Shopify chat?

Shopify Discussion

Topic summary

Sudden spike in unsolicited Shopify chat messages from self-described online marketers—about a dozen in one day versus roughly one per week previously. Messages target a small French business but arrive in English.

Potential causes considered:

  • Coincidence with launching the store’s first Facebook ad campaign, though the campaign had low reach, making this less likely.
  • Someone on the team posting for help on public forums or recent app installations exposing the store to spammers.

Another merchant reports the same surge, calling it a serious problem. They ask Shopify Support whether any measures are being implemented to reduce or block chat spam, citing significant time wasted.

Current status:

  • No confirmation of the root cause.
  • No platform guidance or resolution provided in the thread.

Key open questions:

  • Is the spike linked to external visibility (ads, forums) or platform-wide spam targeting?
  • What anti-spam protections or controls will Shopify provide for chat?
Summarized with AI on December 13. AI used: gpt-5.
1

Hi,

I received a lot of unsolicited messages in my Shopify chat today about online marketer wanting to help my store. In the past I could maybe get one of those messages once a week, but today, I received a dozen of them.

We just started our first Facebook ad campaign today, could this be the cause of all those chats?

If not, why am I receiving so many of them, could it be that an employee asked for help on a forum or tried some new Shopify apps?

Thank you.

2

We are a small french business and all the messages are in english, plus our ad campaign did not really get a great reach.

So it would be more likely that it is due to someone posting online I imagine?

3

This is becoming a serious problem for us too.

@Shopify_77 Support: Are you doing anything to combat chat spam? We waste a ton of time on messages that are obviously spam, and I expect your platform to handle this.