Scams Masquerading as Genuine Advertisements?

I used to click on some of them to support this site but got tired of having to remove malrware. I turned my Adblock back on for this site and haven't had any trouble since. I don't care what they say,  most of these ads aren't safe. 

Who cares?  No one reads them anyway.   It is common knowledge that advertisers pick up information from the net about our personal choices, etc.  It is a necessary evil and your job is to use your brain and not listen with any more seriousness than you do when you turn on your boob tube and sit on the sofa and absorb the lies from your TV.

They are ADS.   Now.  What do you do when you read an ad?  You think.  You think, now why is this company saying this?  Oh yes.  They want to make money.  Now, what is their proof that their product is valid?   If that is not suspect, then you may consider their offer. 

I click on very few of them, Karen, and when they try to use my town name I am even more reluctant, for twp reasons. Firstly, I do not want to help guide the advertising agency to assess the reliability of its own data-harvesting. Secondly, I see it as a catch even if the ad might be safe.



You are right, Sharonna, but I'm not worried about genuine ads from real companies; I do take them a generous pinch of salt; I know advertisers raid or buy personal information from the Internet. In fact data-harvesting is the real business of sites like Facebook, with its added bonus of users revealing freely their real names, locations, family details, etc.

It's the risk of fake or high-jacked ads I questioned.

Oh, BTW...  "boob tube".  LOL! I don't know if that was an intentional, rather wicked, pun - I like it anyway. I don't know because I have no idea what it was called in the US, but in the UK "boob tube" is the risqué nick-name for a certain women's garment popular some while back now. It was a short crop-top; a close-fitting cylinder of elasticated fabric whose hem was well above the wearer's navel, and climbing towards the low neck-line!


And I don't have a TV so whilst I may miss programmes I might choose to watch in entirety, at least I'm not bombarded with facile commercials for things I neither need nor want, interrupting them. :-)   

I'd guessed something like that meaning - I think an old UK English slang for the same was "booby", now used in "booby prize", but not used as far as I've ever heard or read to describe the person.

Distinct from "boob" though!

Could be worse. EP and AM have revealed to me a significant trans-Atlantic difference in the meanings of the slang word "fanny"..... 'Nuff said!

So, run an ad blocker. That's what I do and I don't have to put up with that annoyance.

I do have a pop-up blocker on, but I've managed to block myself from much of my own computer's admin!

I just don't normally click on the ads - that's the simplest but safe way to avoid anything untoward in them. I think most are genuine but I am aware of the risks, and my question was really to see if I was worrying too much or not.

The region-targeted ones generally don't know squat and they don't retain it. They look at your IP address and use the location it gives. As far as scams go, there should not be any problematic websites. If you still have a link to the site you were sent to, please email it to me, along with any info you recall, such as what the ad looked like and when you saw it. Those kinds of things wouldn't be tolerated and they'd be removed altogether. 

Thank you Just Asking.

The ad is actually on the screen now!

It shows a face-only portrait of a blonde woman smiling viavaciously at me (very pleasant but not really relevant: I suppose they had to think of some image!), above the caption / link "Incredibly Brilliant Idea to Discover If You Had PPI".

Under that in tiny letters, it tells us it's from "iSmart Consumer Solutions". Following it revealed the internet address, "digitalclam.co.uk" just as my security software thought it was "dangerous", and posted this:

"For your security BullGuard has blocked access to this page
The site is listed as a malicious site that may be stealing identity information, plant viruses on your machine or do other harmful things.

"The information we have indicate that this site:
- Might be used for deceptive or fraudulent purposes, such as stealing financial or other user account information. Such sites are often designed to appear as legitimate sites in order to mislead users into entering their credentials."


[Cut & paste quote}

I assume Taboola, which I guess is the agency buying advertising space on web-sites, watches material to ensure it is safe, not least to safeguard itself. Also, as I say, Bullguard does occasionally block innocent web-sites, perhaps triggered by certain words within the site, or by signs of the site being attacked - I don't know. 

Interestingly, another advertisement in the same set on this screen-full for a similar service, but from "The Claims Guys", does open with the address redboxppi.co.uk. The ads for solar panels and eye treatment also work, but not the two games - though they probably won't run on my PC anyway. So my digital bulldog has sniffed out something in the iSmart Consumer Solutions site, but not in the other 4 ads or the 2 games.  

I carried out a final test. I tried iSmart CS'  digitalclam.co.uk address directly in the browser, and Bullguard blocked it from there, so has not discovered a weakness or fault in AM or Taboola. I suggest Taboola examines that web-site to see if it's been compromised. Given that iSmart is aimed at selling "compensation" deals to people miss-sold PPI, it's quite likely to attract hackers.

If it hasn't,  perhaps Bullguard's being a bit over-sensitive!

Thank you Just Asking.

Very odd, though, that redirection!