VirginFlyer wrote:

csturdiv wrote:

Had another redirect to a daily-sweepstakes.info spam site,. But at least I got a DNS error.

Just a note in case anyone isn't copy pasting the links we've shared, it is actually spelled "sweeptakes" rather than "sweepstakes" in the offending URL (no doubt to get around those who automatically block the correct spelling of the word"

V/F

10-4, noted.

Yeah I copy and paste the full URL for reporting.

Jeff M

As a networking professional focused on security, I must tell you that URL blocking is most likely futile in this case. These kinds of malware ads typically use dynamic URL's, so you will never be able to block them all. You're going to need to lean on your ad provider to stop accepting ads without checking them for the presence of any unwanted redirects, or switch to a more reputable provider. For the users, until that is done, an ad blocker is your best line of defense.

VertScopeJeff wrote:

Boof wrote:

Hi Jeff,

I'm still getting this on the mobile site on the forums. I don't have the Facebook App installed on my iPhone and like Virgin Flyer when I stop loading it would appear to be something buried within the adverts on the website. I'm really getting sick of this to be honest. For reference I've got both an iPhone 6 and a 7 and both are impacted by this spam when browsing the webpage.

Thanks,
Boof

Understood and I apologize in advance.

If you can still grab the links I will still report them so they can track them if anything changes.

I will report back as a hear more.

Jeff M

Hi Jeff,

Per your request this is three of the many links that I've had over the past week. Like many others, I've simply stopped visiting the mobile site since the weekend as it is a waste of time.

Note that with the links below, to protect my privacy I've changed the location (region and country), carrier plus the IP address.

Thanks,
Boof

http://wos.daily-sweeptakes.info/index. ... 456.789.10


http://w_z.daily-sweeptakes.info/index. ... 456.789.10

http://wgz.daily-sweeptakes.info/index. ... 456.789.10

Just started happening to me. It reminded me to install AdBlock on the phone, now so far no more annoyances.

I have been having the same problem for the past few days too - never had that before and doesn't occur on other sites

You really need to turn off mobile advertising off while a solution is worked on. This website has been unusable on my iPhone for the past week.

Blocking the URL will not work as they change names constantly

QF29 wrote:

You really need to turn off mobile advertising off while a solution is worked on. This website has been unusable on my iPhone for the past week.

Blocking the URL will not work as they change names constantly

I agree 100% on this. No point having advertising if your users cannot see the website in the first place.

This website is unusable and it's a joke that the owners haven't done anything about it. This thread was started 2 months ago, and multiple people have reported this issue. Not only does the redirect move users away from the site, but it is redirecting to an obviously fraudulent promotion. This is clearly damaging the a.net reputation and it's just a bit of a shame that it doesn't seem like a priority for the website managers to do anything drastic about it. Bring back the paid membership.. at least the site was usable.

It is also back on my phone, and I can't help but feel a bit dissapointed given the fact that I started this thread some months a go. But personally I have no clue how hard it is to block such things (so I don't want to blame anyone), but I also think that blocking URL's wont lead far, as from mx experience These URL's are always changing.

I think I found a solution to this. After loading the website, keep a track of the progress round arrow, the moment it starts reloading means it is loading that spam site, just stop it then and there, I've found that once this is done, the site does not try to load again but, you have to be observant to nip it in the bud!

I really wish the administrators would be proactive and find a permanent solution to this!

I'm glad I'm not a paying member!!

I've just sent a message on this site's Facebook page. Will keep you updated of any progress.

Update:

To give you guys another option for mobile viewing I just put in a ticket to have TapaTalk added to the site, it should be up in a day or so then we can test for any issues.

Case #2648864

Jeff M

dennypayne wrote:

As a networking professional focused on security, I must tell you that URL blocking is most likely futile in this case. These kinds of malware ads typically use dynamic URL's, so you will never be able to block them all. You're going to need to lean on your ad provider to stop accepting ads without checking them for the presence of any unwanted redirects, or switch to a more reputable provider. For the users, until that is done, an ad blocker is your best line of defense.

Yup, we are doing that also, multi tiered approach. Unfortunately, it is not moving as fast as I would like.

Jeff M

Boof wrote:

VertScopeJeff wrote:

Boof wrote:

Hi Jeff,

I'm still getting this on the mobile site on the forums. I don't have the Facebook App installed on my iPhone and like Virgin Flyer when I stop loading it would appear to be something buried within the adverts on the website. I'm really getting sick of this to be honest. For reference I've got both an iPhone 6 and a 7 and both are impacted by this spam when browsing the webpage.

Thanks,
Boof

Understood and I apologize in advance.

If you can still grab the links I will still report them so they can track them if anything changes.

I will report back as a hear more.

Jeff M

Hi Jeff,

Per your request this is three of the many links that I've had over the past week. Like many others, I've simply stopped visiting the mobile site since the weekend as it is a waste of time.

Note that with the links below, to protect my privacy I've changed the location (region and country), carrier plus the IP address.

Thanks,
Boof

http://wos.daily-sweeptakes.info/index. ... 456.789.10


http://w_z.daily-sweeptakes.info/index. ... 456.789.10

http://wgz.daily-sweeptakes.info/index. ... 456.789.10

Thanks for posting and understood.

Reported for blocking.

Also, note post about TapaTalk.

Jeff M

nonrev wrote:

http://wu8.daily-sweeptakes.info/index.html?t=1wjYa_t7oJgCR66chO4i3YliqgiKqQTqCqE59uECXNB9cbsloVVRKfWS3c5v1kH1HWb5QRl7aFjwzwiUIw4H3peLJiDEM62aSzvs7PKgxJ8%3D&d=ukiphone&td=m.d3r68oj92b.com&pub=rubicon&app=28398&dev=%7B%7B%7Bdev%7D%7D%7D&os=ios&isp=ee%20limited&city=hatfield&brand=Apple&model=iPhone&pub=rubicon&region=HR&country=CTY&browser=Safari&ip=123.456.789.0

10-4, Reported.

Jeff M

jojot wrote:

I think I found a solution to this. After loading the website, keep a track of the progress round arrow, the moment it starts reloading means it is loading that spam site, just stop it then and there, I've found that once this is done, the site does not try to load again but, you have to be observant to nip it in the bud!

I really wish the administrators would be proactive and find a permanent solution to this!

I'm glad I'm not a paying member!!

Thanks for the hint, I will share with the teams here.

Also note the post on adding TapaTalk

Jeff M

Only happens when on a mobile network not when on wifi.

Very annoying and ruinous to site usage on the move.

StTim wrote:

Only happens when on a mobile network not when on wifi.

Very annoying and ruinous to site usage on the move.

Noted and shared, might be something with data provider carriers.

Jeff M

Was happening in Germany and in the UK yesterday.

This now happens every time I visit the site on my mobile.

If you aren't getting a response from your advertising vendor, please disable advertising on the mobile site until you get the issue fixed. If this continues for much longer you won't have any users left - I've visited this site for 10+ years (although only recently created an account), but it will very shortly be time for me to stop visiting the site.

happens all the time now in the USA, on an iPhone

Has been happening to me for the past 6 weeks, finally found this thread (via Google). I expect this is happening to thousands of people, only a fraction of whom will post here.

It makes your site unusable and is very frustrating. You are serving up dodgy ads and it's your responsibility to take ownership of the problem. A responsible company would have suspended advertising on the mobile site while this is fixed. This has been requested multiple times in the thread. The fact that you haven't means you're not really bothered about it and don't really care.

So - shame on you Airliners.net - bad management.

I have been experiencing the same issue on I-Pad and I-Phone. I have restored I-Pad to factory settings and still the spam (Answer the questions and you win an i-phone) appears on airliners site. I have not experienced this on any other sites. I have also changed passed words and nothing seems to fix.

My interaction on FB re this issue.

FRI 02:28

Joseph
Can the moderators of the website please look into this frustrating occurrence, and find a permanent solution to it? It would be most appreciated. Thank you.
Airliners.net
Thanks for messaging us. We try to be as responsive as possible. We'll get back to you soon.
Joseph
Here is the link.
viewtopic.php?f=12&t=1363111&p=19702991#p19702991
FRI 10:44

Airliners.net
Hi Joseph we're looking to resolve the issue and may introduce Tapatalk as a solution the problem lies with a 3rd party ad provider and affects many sites owned by VerticalScope so it is not just Airliners.net which is suffering from this. Please post in the dedicated threads any links in the site related forum so we can pass onto the ad provider. We're sorry for the inconvenience this has caused and hope to have it resolved shortly, regards Paul
Joseph
Hello Paul, thank you for your response. Would you be able to provide a timeframe by which this will be resolved, as in the present situation this has become a 100% deterrent to users of the website on mobile devices?
FRI 18:05

Airliners.net
Hi Joseph, I don't currently have a time frame but we're looking at Tapatalk as a solution. Please monitor the site related forum for updates from Jeff who will provide a time expectation. Regards, Paul
Joseph
Thank you Paul.
Kind regards.
Joseph.
FRI 19:41

Airliners.net
You're welcome Joseph
Seen by Airliners.net at Friday 19:41

JKPhotos wrote:

Hi Jeff,

appreciate your effort!

Here is another site I got redirected to (from airliners mobile Version this morning):

URL: xuenann.win/home/valid

(image goes here)

As youn can see it is basically the same site with another URL.

Regards,
Julien

It's not like there are actualy bad people on this forum, but still, try not to show your IP address. Sorry for the OT, just wanted to point that out. If that link is already resolved, you should delete that image.

Heya all,

TT artwork is in progress and should be up this week.

Keep reporting the Links so we can add them to the block list and report for tracking.

Thanks in advance,
Jeff M

Jeff - this is still happening. Your website is almost unusable now. I am ready to give up on this site unless you can resolve the problem. If you aren't getting a response from your advertising vendor then disable advertising on the mobile site until the problem is resolved.

As others have noted on this thread, it is your responsibility to fix this problem or your users will leave.

This site has turned to absolute unusable bullsh*t. I hope it fails miserably as a direct result of your inaction. You should be ashamed.

Hi Jeff,

Still having the issue. The link that initially appears has changed, it is now:

Can you please block that.

It still then redirects to w[random-character][random-character].daily-sweeptakes.info - given that is a secondary redirect I don't know if blocking it on your end actually does anything. I assume you have tried blocking anything from the .daily-sweeptakes.info domain, and don't need to do it separately for each individual prefix? If you do need to do each prefix one by one, there is no need to wait for people to report each variation - they are random, and you need to block all the potential permutations.

Speaking more broadly, this is extremely disappointing that this is still happening. Please turn off mobile advertising until you've sorted it out. Yes you will use revenue, but you are going to lose more revenue in the long run by making the site next to unusable on an mobile device. When you announced you had purchased this website you promised us as a community that you would be more responsive than the previous owners; unfortunately this ongoing issue is eventually going to erode the goodwill you had generated with us all. On this thoughts can you please also reassure us that you are not receiving click revenue for each time we get redirected by this nonsense?

V/F

QF93 wrote:

Jeff - this is still happening. Your website is almost unusable now. I am ready to give up on this site unless you can resolve the problem. If you aren't getting a response from your advertising vendor then disable advertising on the mobile site until the problem is resolved.

As others have noted on this thread, it is your responsibility to fix this problem or your users will leave.

Unfortunately, that is not an option, I have already checked into this.

TapaTalk should be up soon as another option.

Jeff M

VHOGU wrote:

This site has turned to absolute unusable bullsh*t. I hope it fails miserably as a direct result of your inaction. You should be ashamed.

Wishing harm upon the site is not very cool. We are doing the best but this is no easy or quick fix.

TapaTalk should be live by the end of the week as an option.

Jeff M

VirginFlyer wrote:

Hi Jeff,

Still having the issue. The link that initially appears has changed, it is now:

Code: Select all

https://m.ilritj92ic.com/v/W75cqOwl1u0l2YlG/?pub=rubicon&app=28398&dev={{dev}}

Can you please block that.

It still then redirects to w[random-character][random-character].daily-sweeptakes.info - given that is a secondary redirect I don't know if blocking it on your end actually does anything. I assume you have tried blocking anything from the .daily-sweeptakes.info domain, and don't need to do it separately for each individual prefix? If you do need to do each prefix one by one, there is no need to wait for people to report each variation - they are random, and you need to block all the potential permutations.

Speaking more broadly, this is extremely disappointing that this is still happening. Please turn off mobile advertising until you've sorted it out. Yes you will use revenue, but you are going to lose more revenue in the long run by making the site next to unusable on an mobile device. When you announced you had purchased this website you promised us as a community that you would be more responsive than the previous owners; unfortunately this ongoing issue is eventually going to erode the goodwill you had generated with us all. On this thoughts can you please also reassure us that you are not receiving click revenue for each time we get redirected by this nonsense?

V/F

Thanks, and yeah we are blocking all extensions on the links and variations. I have a meeting today and will stress the feelings of this community on there.

Unable to turn off mobile advertising, unfortunately. No click through revenue coming our way also, this is more of a virus or pirating issue.

Jeff M

You guys might want to check site security. When I've had similar issues like this with apps and websites in the past, Apple has told me that my phone is "infested" with spyware.

I use an iPhone 6+, running iOS 10.3.3.

Marc

fqtv wrote:

Has been happening to me for the past 6 weeks, finally found this thread (via Google). I expect this is happening to thousands of people, only a fraction of whom will post here.

I've stuck a link to this thread in my signature line - I would recommend others do the same so that users who don't realise this is a known issue, and don't know where to report it, see where to go.

V/F

Heya all,

Just heard back from the escalation team and think with some more info we will be able to hunt down the exact cause.

They have now requested all of this info to hold the 3rd party vendors more accountable and track the process. I know some of you may have listed the Device, OS, etc before but just copy and paste with as much info as you can below.

1) Site (full URL if possible)
2) Device
3) OS/browser
4) Geo
5) Redirect URL
6) Ad Call – I know this is very difficult to obtain, but it’s the best piece of evidence to help locate the source
7) Screen shot


I am still looking into other options for the site and TapaTalk should be live soon.

Jeff M

Jeff
Might be barking up the wrong tree, I am using android Samsung phone and tablet, do not seem to be getting these spam pop-ups. Is this just limited windows based OS systems or both?.

Steve

Jeff, thanks for the update. I would recommend that since you are crowd-sourcing the trouble-shooting of this problem to an extent, you should make this thread (or new one which precisely describes the problem and the list of information you need in the opening post) an announcement/sticky across all forums so that all users will be aware of the issue and know what information is needed to combat it.

Before doing that, can you please clarify what you mean with a few of these points of information?

VertScopeJeff wrote:

1) Site (full URL if possible)

Do you mean the URL of the page we are trying to navigate to? Or the URL of the site we are redirected to?

VertScopeJeff wrote:

4) Geo

Does this mean the country we are in? Or something more specific?

VertScopeJeff wrote:

5) Redirect URL

Which do you want? The initial one which comes up, or the one we are finally redirected to? Or both?

VertScopeJeff wrote:

6) Ad Call – I know this is very difficult to obtain, but it’s the best piece of evidence to help locate the source

What is this and how do we find it?

bombayduck wrote:

Jeff
Might be barking up the wrong tree, I am using android Samsung phone and tablet, do not seem to be getting these spam pop-ups. Is this just limited windows based OS systems or both?.

Steve

It has only been affecting me on iOS, not on Windows (and I don't use Android so no personal experience either way there).

V/F

bombayduck wrote:

Jeff
Might be barking up the wrong tree, I am using android Samsung phone and tablet, do not seem to be getting these spam pop-ups. Is this just limited windows based OS systems or both?.

Steve

Seems to be mainly iOS for this site.

It is happening on Android on some others sites.

Jeff M

VirginFlyer wrote:

Jeff, thanks for the update. I would recommend that since you are crowd-sourcing the trouble-shooting of this problem to an extent, you should make this thread (or new one which precisely describes the problem and the list of information you need in the opening post) an announcement/sticky across all forums so that all users will be aware of the issue and know what information is needed to combat it.

Before doing that, can you please clarify what you mean with a few of these points of information?

VertScopeJeff wrote:

1) Site (full URL if possible)

Do you mean the URL of the page we are trying to navigate to? Or the URL of the site we are redirected to?

VertScopeJeff wrote:

4) Geo

Does this mean the country we are in? Or something more specific?

VertScopeJeff wrote:

5) Redirect URL

Which do you want? The initial one which comes up, or the one we are finally redirected to? Or both?

VertScopeJeff wrote:

6) Ad Call – I know this is very difficult to obtain, but it’s the best piece of evidence to help locate the source

What is this and how do we find it?

bombayduck wrote:

Jeff
Might be barking up the wrong tree, I am using android Samsung phone and tablet, do not seem to be getting these spam pop-ups. Is this just limited windows based OS systems or both?.

Steve

It has only been affecting me on iOS, not on Windows (and I don't use Android so no personal experience either way there).

V/F

Good call, I was debating on making a new thread.

I am traveling for the Michigan Powerboat races this weekend but will develop a new thread with more detail after I clarify some detail based on your reply.

Just wanted to keep you guys in the loop and thanks for helping us get tot he bottom of this.

Jeff M

VertScopeJeff wrote:

bombayduck wrote:

Jeff
Might be barking up the wrong tree, I am using android Samsung phone and tablet, do not seem to be getting these spam pop-ups. Is this just limited windows based OS systems or both?.

Steve

Seems to be mainly iOS for this site.

It is happening on Android on some others sites.

Jeff M

I'm an Android user and it happens to me, just did a few minutes ago.

If your advertising source cannot do anything, then why don't you drop them and use another advertising source? Just got another redirect away from Airliners.net to this damn scam

Let´s be honest here, the main focus of the new owners is to get ad revenue out of this site. On the one hand they are VERY slow to address the various bugs and lacking functionalities of the new site, but on the other hand they are also reluctant to protect users from scam and/or broken ads that make the site unusable. This has been the status quo for a year, and I have given hope this will ever change.

Realistically, the only way to access airliners.net now is having an adblocker enabled. The mid term prognosis is that within 5 years (or less), the site will likely become irrelevant entirely. Between the subpar, partially broken forum, the abolished premium memberships and resulting decline in discussion quality, and site-breaking scam ads that have become a fixed institution of a.net, it is hard to see any other way forward.

Seriously, a.net was a special place for aviation enthusiasts to meet while it lasted, but it is time to accept that those times are over for good...

I say this very cautiously because I've said it before and then been proven wrong, but...

For the past couple of days I have not received any spam advertising attacks from Airliners.net.

Fingers crossed that this is a permanent solution to this vexing issue.

V/F

What is the status of Tapatalk? It was mentioned it would be ready last week.

VirginFlyer wrote:

I say this very cautiously because I've said it before and then been proven wrong, but...

For the past couple of days I have not received any spam advertising attacks from Airliners.net.

Fingers crossed that this is a permanent solution to this vexing issue.

V/F

Knock on wood, good news.

Jeff M

LAXintl wrote:

What is the status of Tapatalk? It was mentioned it would be ready last week.

Still working on it, going through some emails from the weekend on it now.

I will update once I have an ETA or live.

Jeff M

Here's another link to block:

https://bsc-cars.com/lp/?u=be02109f1a01 ... 6#Congrats

Got malware intrusive

Original link was http://d25nlhpsz39alz.cloudfront.net/

Finally redirected to http://us.teetotalers373sn.pw/

Here's another one: http://us.demoralization130aj.pw/walmar ... con_28398#