The Illustrated Primer

Category: Deception

Ripping Off Google

July 18, 2010 13 Comments

It seems that if necessity is the mother of invention, then revenue from high internet traffic is the granddaddy of the con. Site sponsored advertising practice has now become so popular that many clever enterprising individuals and larger organizations are running large campaigns for site scams know as MFA (made for AdSense). These scraper sites are siphoning tens of millions of dollars from the likes of Google.

The Anti-Virus Virus

May 4, 2010 2 Comments

Another interesting observation—which is not without its irony—is that large vendors such as Microsoft are completely unaware of the malware distribution platforms and are aggressively purchasing advertising space on these sites.

Windows Live Credit Card Phishing

December 10, 2009 14 Comments

In many cases, the objective of phishing is to just recover your webmail credentials since the resale value of a legitimate web mail account on the black market can be as high as $2-$3—twice the amount one can get for a stolen credit card number.