Beware of Random Spam Advertising Offers
I received an email yesterday, which wasn’t blocked by my gmail spam filter. The email sounded a bit suspicious, but I’ve received a handful of advertising requests for various niche sites over the years, so I thought I’d at least reply back. The request was to my top performing niche site, so I was at least interested in the possibility of making a few extra dollars, since my adsense has not been doing so well on that site the last couple of months.
Anyway, the email was from jbarbier@markaagency.biz and read:
Hi,
We are looking for new advertisement platforms and we are interested in your site
.
Is it possible to place banner on your site on a fee basis?Best regards,
Jules Barbier
I replied back and asked for more details, such as what site they were looking to advertise and what size banner they were interested in. The reply back from them got me more suspicious because of the fact that they wanted to advertise for Lacoste, yet my site has nothing to do with clothing.
Despite the fact, I decided to entertain myself so I threw out an offer. I gave a price for one month for a banner at the top of my homepage.
Surprisingly (or not) – they accepted the offer, but this is where the fun ended. They sent me an email with a link to a site that I could download their WordPress plugin. (HA HA) – All I had to do was install the plugin and sign up with an account on their website and I would be paid my advertising money.
The link is very detailed, with instructions on how to install the plugin (http://docs.markaagency.biz/wp_install/). After doing a quick Google search for the plugin, I found several websites with other people speaking about the adv.zip plugin and the advertising offer. Interestingly they all seem to be advertising Lacoste, yet they seem to come from different email addresses and different fake ad companies.
Ken at atpeaz.com does the best job of explaining the entire ordeal, as he even checks out the content of the plugin and examines it.
Remember kids, do not install WordPress plugins from strangers.
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Thanks they just posted a comment on my site saying she couldn’t find my “contact us” link and would like to advertise on my site. Funny how it is there, clearly on the header of the site, but sadly for some BOTs it has the CAPTCHA code requirement. I know the Internet is world wide, but I find it suspicious to get offers of advertising at 3am (my time). Your article helped me decide not to waste my time on this. I guess they are trying to find sites that they can spread malware from.
I got this same email today and thought I would try to find a little background information before replying. Thank YOU!
Yep, I also got the email. On 22nd November 2011 It sounded a bit iffy but I replied to it anyway. Then when I got the download back I thought it sounded even more spammy.So I searched for the agency by the way the site does exist (In French).
So thanks for your article!
I just got this same comment earlier today!! Didn’t sound right so I did a quick search and this came up! Thank you so much!
[...] http://pennyonthefloor.com/2011/11/beware-of-random-spam-advertising-offers/ [...]
I got a similar mail and I checked the web for some info. Thanks for sharing your views and I am saved not to proceed further.
[...] Beware of Random Spam Advertising Offers [...]
My blog was also targeted by these scammers. They contacted me under the pseudonym Martin Lefevre from Rita Agency. This banner ad scam is tricky because it seems legit at first, but needing to install a plugin immediately raises red flags.