Ive just stumbled across a couple of sites that have had their htaccess files hacked (dot)htaccess is a special system file that can provide a number functions in the site such as redirection etc For more on htaccess files and functions refer to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Htaccess A sample hacked htaccess file is listed below (although Ive also seen [...]
Spam or a Scam with accessa.me visits ? I’ve noticed recently trickles of visits across many clients sites referred from accessa.me An astute client contacted me to share their concern/interest in these visits which jolted me into action, so he’s what Ive found… Acessa.me seems innocent enough and is looks like a short URL provider [...]
The Asian domain scam seems like it will never end! The scammers send an email titled Brand name dispute or similar, claiming someone is trying to buy domains that are associated with your business, and offering them to you instead I originally reported this domain scam back in August 2008
Happy Easter to all, Don’t fall victim to this April Fool scam claiming your AdWords account has stopped. The email even offers help to get them running again and even improving their performance – how generous! The email link takes the visitor to http://adwords.google-sn.com domain (remaining URL details removed to protect readers) http://whois.domaintools.com shows the [...]
Recently I received another official looking letter notifying me that the succinctideas.net.au domain is available and if I pay for it before a deadline I get a free iPod shuffle. Sound familiar? You may have read this here in Sept 09 Do I need this domain? It is really superfluous to my needs. I already [...]
(Republished from Sept Succinct Update) I’ve encountered several ‘hacked’ websites recently and thought it was important to alert you to this disturbing trend. The two forms of web site hacks I’ve encountered are those flagged by Google and a more furtive cloaked hack. Flagged publicly by Google This embarrassing alert is shown to visitors if [...]
Is an Aussie company is trying to scam you into paying a super-premium for superfluous domains ?
A number of people have contacted me to seek advice after receiving an email typically starting with I visited your website and found it did not rank for <insert apparently relevant keywords here>. The email finishes with an offer to get your website ranking in Google. Client’s initial reactions are that this was a genuine [...]
Recently a client queried an email claiming to alert them that another party was trying to register ‘their’ internet domain in Asia. See email 1 below (Client information removed for privacy) On face value this appears to be a valuable service, and the administrator’s initial response was of interest, and they referred it to me [...]