Comments on: Watch That You Don’t Fall For This Common “Referral Spam” Scam

By: Davy Me

Davy Me — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 09:37:32 +0000

This sucks!! I did the survey.. entered valuable information like my email address, insurance for my car because i wanted a quote anyways.. but still i’m guessing my VIN number is also valuable??

By: Enn Ellandi

Enn Ellandi — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 10:31:09 +0000

Useful information though, I have some experience to identify this kind of websites
Also I’m not play games and watch naughty picts.
As far as I know those two group are most vulnerable groups concerning this kind of cheat

By: renii

renii — Sat, 07 Jul 2012 07:40:20 +0000

Two nights ago,browsing google, clicked a picture to zoom the thumbnail, up pops Moneypak complete with a FBI logo “gotcha” notice saying my puter was blocked for downloading and transmitting copyrighted material. Screen freeze, no escape, keyboard locked. Powered down and reboot and find that IE was cranked up and attempting to upload to unknown website. IE is my secondary browser and is run in a restricted memory mode so it was locked out of the net. Also found that taskmanager settings were changed so no process could be aborted/stopped. Moneypak wanted me to ante up some $USD to “unlock” my puter. Before DOS in the BBS days scams came and went & they change with the times. Have to agree with MotionMan.

By: Cyrus

Cyrus — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 03:26:27 +0000

Minecraft is one.
http://freeminecraftcodesgen.com/win/
Don’t let tempation overcome you.

By: Divit Dsouza

Divit Dsouza — Wed, 04 Jul 2012 16:35:54 +0000

And don’t forget the ones that are hidden in short URLs (bit.ly/xxxx , goo.gl/yyyy)

By: Divit Dsouza

Divit Dsouza — Wed, 04 Jul 2012 16:34:14 +0000

You could always set the audience to “Only Me” :) Comes in handy sometimes…

By: Hamza

Hamza — Wed, 04 Jul 2012 10:09:14 +0000

OMG i have been scammed my whole life -.-
last one was from a friend who sent me a link in an online game asking me to send it again to other 10 in order to have a free Champion skin, the website was clearly not designed as god as the original so i left quickly, i was scared and i turned on every antispywere and antivirus i had. but nothing found. well, at least i’m glad to hear that these types of scamers are only after money from the traffic, not to harm others with viruses. thanks for the explanation

By: MotionMan

MotionMan — Wed, 04 Jul 2012 05:43:29 +0000

I never said you *had* to share a link. I was just pointing out the irony of MakeUseOf posting an article like this when I JUST went through many of the same steps they flagged as suspicious in order to get another one of the GREAT MUO’s HowTo Guides.

The reason the scams work is because they resemble real giveaways. Because of that, I thought it would be good business for sites like MUO to change that fact.

MotionMan

By: wOrkarOund

wOrkarOund — Wed, 04 Jul 2012 02:25:32 +0000

There’s a difference. You don’t HAVE to share a link. Becasue I know you are going to argue already, “No, you don’t”. If you make the effort, you will see it’s true.

So, I don’t feel that it is the same thing.

By: blue4t

blue4t — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 17:16:41 +0000

I’ve been targeted for this kind of scam, but when it comes to sending referrals I balk. I’ve done the kind where it’s “click on the stuff you want sent to your email” kind of stuff where you can say no thanks and go to the next page, but it’s never ending. Eventually, I give up.

By: Ron007

Ron007 — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 16:32:55 +0000

Craig:

If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it must be ….

With a big grin I have to agree with Motion Man. Why, because at the TOP of the emailed article, you have this text

Tip of the Day: You can acquire free software by participating in the MakeUseOf Rewards program! Acquire points to exchange for free software and giveaway entries by creating a MakeUseOf account, commenting on out website, and sharing our articles on social networks.

Sure looks like a referral scam … You just have to love the irony. Thanks for my laugh of the day.

Like MM, I too am a long time fan and user of the site.

By: MotionMan

MotionMan — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 16:22:20 +0000

Don’t get me wrong – I think that MakeUseOf is great and does provide a lot of value for “nothing”. I also think it is unfortunate that spammers and scammers seem to ruin everything that is good and legitimate.

However, one way these scams work is because they resemble what legitimate site do. It just seems to me that, once the spammers and scammers have taken over a particular type of interaction, the legitimate sites might want to work on a new way to get the word out. Of course, it is neither fair or easy. Sorry.

MotionMan

By: Craig Snyder

Craig Snyder — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 16:10:53 +0000

That argument is tough for me to come to terms with because what you’re doing is basically saying, “Your website does the same as this other website, but the only difference is that this other website does it in a way that is meant to manipulate, harm, or steal from the user.” That’s a really glaring difference and that’s entirely what makes the concept wrong. The only relevant part of the issue is that both sides receive what the other has agreed upon.

MakeUseOf provides many guides that are free of any monetary cost. What you’re “paying” to MUO is a little social exposure, should you choose the option to share the link on Facebook or another social network. You can’t be forced to do it and once you do, should you choose to, you get exactly what was promised to you.

The overall goal to be met in an exchange like this is that one side promises one thing, the other side promises another, and both promises are kept when agreed upon. These scam websites either don’t keep their promises and decieve the user outright, or they keep their promise and then go through measures to manipulate the user once the promise is met.

MakeUseOf never asks anyone to send out spam. In situations like the ones you’ve referenced, we’re asking that users please share their support and interest in the site site with their friends. Doing so helps us provide free information that we’ve worked hard to put together, keep less advertisements on the site, and ultimately keep MUO running.

By: MotionMan

MotionMan — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 15:10:19 +0000

Ironically, just the other day, in order to download MakeUseOf’s own ‘How To Jailbreak Your iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad’, I had to either subscribe to the MakeUseOf Newsletter or, in a very “Referral Spam”-like way, share a link on FaceBook (or Twitter, or Google Plus).

Perhaps if the legitimate websites, like MakeUseOf, did not encourage us to spam our friends, more people would not fall for these scams from the illegitimate websites?

MotionMan

By: druv vb

druv vb — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 11:12:49 +0000

The other side of the Internet – scrupulous people.
There’s no way to stop them, unless the whole Internet network is down for years…

Spammers are always creative at their work to extract information.
Be it a simple mail or advert.

We as users should always be careful for not being a click-aholic…

” Everything that shines is not gold, its just a shiny bee with a strong stinger shot…”