Shady Pop-Up/Spam Link?

by **Rostavykhan** » Thu Dec 21, 2017 9:00 pm

Not sure if I should link it, since I know it's dumb to link to anything shady on NS, but I just stumbled across one of those "you just won X item" tabs when it popped up upon me clicking on a thread. It's not explicit or anything, but it does seem to poorly imitate a Facebook aesthetic, and it popped up on its own when I selected a thread. Are such ads allowed on NS? I'd supported the site on an old nation, but not on this new one, so I haven't paid much attention.

Anyways, would spoilering the link or anything he helpful? I don't know what the site or ad is, the URL is really long, and the site itself doesn't SEEM malicious, but it does seem spammy.

by **Mallorea and Riva** » Thu Dec 21, 2017 9:02 pm

Rostavykhan wrote:Not sure if I should link it, since I know it's dumb to link to anything shady on NS, but I just stumbled across one of those "you just won X item" tabs when it popped up upon me clicking on a thread. It's not explicit or anything, but it does seem to poorly imitate a Facebook aesthetic, and it popped up on its own when I selected a thread. Are such ads allowed on NS? I'd supported the site on an old nation, but not on this new one, so I haven't paid much attention.

Anyways, would spoilering the link or anything he helpful? I don't know what the site or ad is, the URL is really long, and the site itself doesn't SEEM malicious, but it does seem spammy.

What is the thread that caused you to find this? We don't have pop up ads, so either it's something on your end or someone posted something causing issues.

by **Rostavykhan** » Thu Dec 21, 2017 9:07 pm

I had just clicked on the Right Wing Thread in NSG, though nothing was linked there. I often lurk or post there anyways, and I've never had a pop-up before. I also usually use adblockers with the exception of sites like NS or a certain image board I use.

I haven't had any pop-ups before, and I've clicked around and not had any others, so I'm willing to bet it was just a weird coincidence.

EDIT: Nevermind, just got it again in the Cafe/Chat thread in P2TM. It appears to be the same advertiser, but a different ad. I haven't gotten the pop-ups on other sites, and I have a few tabs open.

by **Kyrusia** » Thu Dec 21, 2017 9:48 pm

Moving this to Technical. Please provide the name of your browser, its version, and a screencap of the advertisement and URL if you could.

Can you remember which page on each thread you had the issue? I just checked on the first and last pages of each, and had no issues. It's possible it's a malware issue (in which case, you should scan your computer). Just in case it isn't, though, screencaps help in case it's something an Admin need take a look at.

by **[violet]** » Thu Dec 21, 2017 10:55 pm

I switched over to a new ad provider recently so it could be something new. But pop-ups absolutely shouldn't be a thing. Please submit a screenshot and/or link if you can.

by **Rostavykhan** » Sun Dec 24, 2017 10:25 am

I got one just now (sorry, I sort of was in a weird mood the other day and I didn't want to be a bother and I sort of dipped out >.<), so here's the main one I've been getting.

Screencap, sorry for mobile.

Sorry for it being mobile...

Anyways, it's usually this, or the same link with an Apple style graphic. It only happens every now and then, but it began the day I made the thread. I'm only getting these on NS. I regularly browse YouTube, Twitter, a few image boards, and haven't had any issues at all.

I've looked into it a little bit, but haven't learned much.

by **Xmara** » Sun Dec 24, 2017 2:38 pm

You mean I’m not the only one having this issue? I only seem to have it on my iPad (probably because I use AdBlock on my MacBook) and clearing website data doesn’t help much. I use Safari on all my devices.

by **Mallorea and Riva** » Sun Dec 24, 2017 10:14 pm

Funny, I just got the same thing on my phone when clicking absentmindedly on a link to a thread in gameplay. That's never happened before. Was too busy jamming the back button to catch a url or notice what specific product it was for, which I know isn't terribly helpful.

by **Tundra Terra** » Sun Dec 24, 2017 10:21 pm

I have seen and heard of these ads before. They're usually some spambot from a hacker looking for your personal information or bank account. If you're on mobile blocking cookies and getting new adblocker should help.

by **Trumpsupporter** » Mon Dec 25, 2017 7:36 pm

I keep being led offsite when I didn't click on anything and it's a mobile device. Is this a something off on Iphone ?

by **Mallorea and Riva** » Mon Dec 25, 2017 7:58 pm

Trumpsupporter wrote:I keep being led offsite when I didn't click on anything and it's a mobile device. Is this a something off on Iphone ?

Merged.

by **Autarchist Hinodia** » Mon Dec 25, 2017 8:02 pm

I’ve been having this issue too, for a while. Glad to know I’m not the only one.

by **Rostavykhan** » Mon Dec 25, 2017 8:03 pm

Trumpsupporter wrote:I keep being led offsite when I didn't click on anything and it's a mobile device. Is this a something off on Iphone ?

It was. No pop-ups on my Amazon devices though.

The page redirected for me though, rather than pop up in a new tab, and it always did so either when i returned to my browser from another app, or in the middle of scrolling down a page, never when I clicked a thread. It wasn't spammy either, but happened infrequently, several times a day.

by **Xmara** » Mon Dec 25, 2017 8:50 pm

Tundra Terra wrote:I have seen and heard of these ads before. They're usually some spambot from a hacker looking for your personal information or bank account. If you're on mobile blocking cookies and getting new adblocker should help.

If I block cookies on my iPad then I can’t log into NationStates. Or at least that’s what happened last time I tried blocking cookies.

by **The Last Stars** » Tue Dec 26, 2017 11:46 am

Following this as I stumble into the same problem on my Android device on occasions. However I haven't experienced this yet on my iPad if that helps too.

by **[violet]** » Tue Dec 26, 2017 7:57 pm

Thanks, I've reported it to our new ad provider. Hopefully they can block these.

If you are able to report the URL for an ad (on desktop: right-click -> Copy Link Address), that's very helpful.

Edit: These should be blocked now.

by **United States of the Soviet Republics** » Thu Apr 05, 2018 10:04 am

[violet] wrote:Thanks, I've reported it to our new ad provider. Hopefully they can block these.

If you are able to report the URL for an ad (on desktop: right-click -> Copy Link Address), that's very helpful.

Edit: These should be blocked now.

So me and a few friends have been getting this issue where we simply get a new website instead of the nationstates website. This is usually a kind of spam site and was wondering if u still wanted the link.

by **[violet]** » Thu Apr 05, 2018 2:05 pm

Yes, absolutely. URLs and/or screenshots are very helpful.

by **United States of the Soviet Republics** » Tue Apr 10, 2018 9:52 am

[violet] wrote:Yes, absolutely. URLs and/or screenshots are very helpful.

http://10.1.75.252/access?QUQHDSMKWMKBE ... DDWWDOORWD

I have gotten this link 4 times so far all when i was browsing nationstates.

by **Sisuvia** » Wed Apr 11, 2018 7:11 pm

I've been repeatedly getting these again in the regional boards and in my nation homescreen. It was gone for a while when the issue was brought up a few weeks ago, but it's happening again now.

Here are the links of the sites, I don't know if anyone can do anything with them, but they seem to be a "Walmart Win" and "Samsung Win" site. I've seen an amazon one too, but I don't think it's been recent.

It's just a little hard to do anything on here or post in my region when every other second I'm getting pulled to a scam site

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