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Google Treasure Chest, or Kit, and Mysterious ‘Help’ from a Stranger

17th April, 2009 · Posted in Bad Web, Computing, Life

Pre-Script

Comments are now closed on this posting as Google Treasure Chest is dead.
However, the problem has not gone away – the menace continues.

For further information, all chat on this and subsequent scams is now here:
Google Revolution, Different Name, Same Scam!
and here:
More on Google Profits and Pacific Webworks/

Google Treasure Chest

The saga that is Google Treasure Chest in all it’s various incarnations took an unusual turn the other day and it’s only now I’ve got round to writing about it.  For completeness, this is part of the story documented in these three links (and the shrapnel emanating!)

Google Adsense

The unusual problem is to do with this comment on the Google Treasure Chest – it’s a scam and a half! posting.

http://strangelyperfect.tv/3099/google-treasure-chest-its-a-scam-and-a-half/#comment-1176

It’s from a guy named ‘jeff’.  The IP address is put down as somewhere in Alaska and the email address is a gmail.com one.  The problem is the wordage and content of the comment, because notionally it looks okay.  It says;

Strangely Perfect has a link to this scam:
googleads.g.doubleclick.net/aclk?sa=l&ai=BztmIm33nSc_wF5uorAPAz9S1ApethJcBx4WBrwzAjbcB4L40EAEYAiCPg6QOKAI4AFC7seKP
_v____8BYMnmp4a0o6AXoAGdjMruA7IBE3N0cmFuZ2VseXBlcmZlY3QudHa6AQk0Njh4NjBfYXP
IAQHaAUxodHRwOi8vc3RyYW5nZWx5cGVyZmVjdC50di8zMDk5L2dvb2dsZS10cmVhc3VyZS1j
aGVzdC1pdHMtYS1zY2FtLWFuZC1hLWhhbGYv4AECqQK39pSQk9irPqgDAcgDB-gDYegDyAL1A
wAAAAT1AwBAAAA&num=2&sig=AGiWqty_8Dkk4B5fCXsxHe4HgUcV1MOm5w
&client=ca-pub-0574746273596969&adurl=http://www.trackednet.com/statistics/ngm/&nm=33

@AmazonI’ve stripped off the ‘http’ and addded carriage returns to the query string otherwise it shoots right across the page, and even worse, it would allow the link to run.

What’s interesting is that somehow ‘jeff’ has managed (or bothered?) to add a adsense link with my google adsense reference number.  Now this isn’t hard to find.  Check the source code for any of my pages and they’ll all contain the code as a google ad is on every page as they are in the sidebar.

In other words – it’s not rocket science.

But why would someone want to do that?  The actual text is “Strangely Perfect has a link to this scam”, followed by a link.

But the comment is on the actual post where the actual Google Treasure Chest scam is dug into.

  • Q.  So where does the actual link point to?
  • A.  Not where you think – is the answer!

The end URL, http://www.trackednet.com/statistics/ngm/&nm=33 is a 404 dead end.  The front query string is also dead.  Only when the link is clicked (and I’m credited, bizarrely), does the link take you anywhere and that place is a redirect from trackednet.com via a ‘Go’ page to:

http://www.entrepreneur.com/homebasedbiz/index.html

This is a California based company and is in a very nice glazed building off the San Diego Freeway.

Confused

So I’m a trifle confused.  What’s this comment doing on the post?  It’s a kind of self-referential hell.  Is it a mistake by ‘jeff’ who posted the comment on the wrong website?  Is it part of a link duffing-up process?  Is it people posting extra links back to their site on popular posts to ensure the link stands out and isn’t in with the normal bunch of links?

When ‘jeff’ said “Strangely Perfect has a link to this scam”, it’s as if he’s coppied a link from my sidebar adverts and pasted it into a comment……   I hope it’s a genuine mistake and not some new ‘thing’ that I’m at present unaware of!

Amazon Related:

Possibly Related Sites Tags: Information, California, Bad Web
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11 Responses to “Google Treasure Chest, or Kit, and Mysterious ‘Help’ from a Stranger”

  1. Can't believe I was so stupid... says:
    April 17, 2009 at 8:47 pm

    Perhaps I’m not the only one who is stupid? lol.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    • Strangely says:
      April 19, 2009 at 6:24 pm

      Ha Ha.
      Did you get your money sorted okay? I’ve been doing comment moderation in the wrong order and may have already added confusing replies… ho hum. That’s 400 miles on British motorways for you…

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

  2. Slim1202 says:
    May 1, 2009 at 3:23 pm

    I would like to comment on those who have been suckered into signing up for the notorius ” Make thousands for posting google add links.” I myself have made the same mistake of signing up and have managed to cancel the subscription by calling 001-866-951-1406. I was given a cancelation code and I’ve blocked the card I used to make the transaction with my bank just in case they tried to take more money from my acc. I hope this is helpfull to most of you that are having problems tracking these arseholes down and I now know that reading the terms and conditions to these sites would of saved me the money trying to call the States to sort this out.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    • Strangely says:
      May 1, 2009 at 3:43 pm

      @Slim1202
      The 866-951-1406 number has worked okay for a while now (except weekends, I think). However, when you say that reading the terms & conditions is a sensible thing to do, in the real world this is true, but what people were finding not so long ago, is that these T&Cs were garbage and the phones didn’t work and the number kept changing anyway.
      Thanks for the positive result though. The refund successes are outnumbering the failures now!

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

  3. siddharta Neal says:
    May 4, 2009 at 7:30 pm

    its not a scam i made 48 thousand in 6 months its the best thing ever i dont know what happend to you guys expierence but mine was very sufficient and im only 22 making big bucks.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

  4. dolceman69 says:
    June 1, 2009 at 8:42 pm

    Everyone is crying about the seventy something dollars. I made that in a half hour the other day with this program. I am now debt free and wipe my butt with cash. Stop crying and start posting. I promise you will be living large (like Me) in weeks.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    • Strangely says:
      June 2, 2009 at 12:01 am

      yay @dolceman69!!
      Thanks for the positive note and I’m so glad you’re doing so well. Here mate? Please check my privacy policy here http://strangelyperfect.tv/about/privacy-policy/ which details my absolute freedom to do what I like on my website, given the free and anonymous nature of the internet.

      Okay? Done it?

      Good.
      With that in mind, I was a bit perturbed about the lack of proof you provided for your recently improved financial circumstances using these systems. Your lack of a suitable corroborative website is a bit of a problem as well.

      So, with all these facts in mind, I’ll let readers email you themselves for further info and you can point them to the correct websites etc and show them all your nice google cheques. Okay with you?

      email hidden; JavaScript is required

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

      • Strangely says:
        June 2, 2009 at 12:24 am

        As an interesting aside to Billy Fuckwit above (@dolceman69), when trying to find out further info on him to see if any of it was true I stumbled upon Clickbank – specifically their ClickBank Marketplace…

        I don’t know if anyone has purchased anything from this lot, but given that the word “BANK” is in their name, read the following ‘TERMS OF SALE’ at the bottom of their online purchasing system. It makes Leymans look positively saintly!

        Terms of sale:

        * Your purchase will appear on your bank statement under the name “CLKBANK*COM”.
        * ClickBank will, at its discretion, allow for the return or replacement of any defective product within 60 days from the date of purchase. For more detail see our return policy.
        * The geographic location of your computer has been determined and recorded. All attempts at fraud will be prosecuted.
        * Information submitted in conjunction with this order is handled within the constraints of our privacy policy.
        * Your name and email address may be provided to the original vendor of this product upon completion of this purchase.
        * The Clickbank Marketplace is not a chartered bank or trust company, or depository institution.
        * The Clickbank Marketplace is not authorized to accept deposits or trust accounts and is not licensed or regulated by any state or federal banking authority.

        Copyright © 2009 Click Sales Inc. ClickBank / 917 Lusk St / Suite 200 / Boise ID 83706.

        It’s the bottom bit that really takes the biscuit. Here’s it repeated again, for emphasis:

        The Clickbank Marketplace is not authorized to accept deposits or trust accounts and is not licensed or regulated by any state or federal banking authority.

        It’s like a bloody street market in Hogarth’s England not part of the regulated financial world we come to expect after a huge crash…

        Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

  5. Strangely says:
    July 19, 2009 at 1:05 pm

    Comments are now closed on this posting as Google Treasure Chest is dead.
    However, the problem has not gone away – the menace continues.

    For further information, all chat on this and subsequent scams is now here:
    Google Revolution, Different Name, Same Scam!
    and here:
    More on Google Profits and Pacific Webworks/

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

  6. White Knight SEO-ers ride in on broken horses… says:
    September 13, 2009 at 9:51 am

    [...] 04/17/2009 (StrangelyPerfect.TV): Google Treasure Chest or Kit and Mysterious "Help" From a Stranger [...]

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

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