The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Spammed on mobile, anyone else?

Valdus's picture
Valdus

Spammed on mobile, anyone else?

I try and access the site on mobile and I get a splash ad from my service provider that I have been selected blah, blah, blah. I hit close and I am thrown to a new window for some sort of survey. 

This happen to anyone else?

David R's picture
David R

... from your service provider.

MTloaf's picture
MTloaf

It happens to me too, but only on my IPhone. I get a Century Link survey or a prize from Amazon.

Valdus's picture
Valdus

this just keep happening. 

DanAyo's picture
DanAyo

This what pops up on my iPad when using TFL. It happens when using Chrome browser.

danny

Valdus's picture
Valdus

same thing here as well 

David R's picture
David R

Spam (or virus). Not anybody's service provider.

Valdus's picture
Valdus

I know it ain’t the provider, regardless still so annoying at a site I consider sacred.  

Our Crumb's picture
Our Crumb

...while I was trying to read this post! ?

”Congratulations!  You’ve won an Amazon...” and only way out is to close the window and open a new one with TFL. Back arrow is no escape since the spammers fill your History queue with copies of their URL. 

But only on mobile. 

Tom

DanAyo's picture
DanAyo

Tom, what browser are you using?

Our Crumb's picture
Our Crumb

I only encounter the "Congratulations Amazon User!" spam when visiting TFL on my iPhone under iOS 12.1.4 (and before), provider: AT&T.  Never on laptop.  I don't routinely use any other iOS devices.

Tom

David R's picture
David R

If you're saying it no longer occurs on iOS after a certain version, then it seems likely that this is a known exploit that has been fixed/prevented in newer versions (of the browser or of the OS itself).

David R's picture
David R

They aren't secretly filling your history queue; that's actually how many times you've visited it.

Unless this is a very intrusive virus, and not just some spam. If they actually are modifying your history queue, then they have likely done all kinds of worse things on your machine too.

Our Crumb's picture
Our Crumb

That's what I thought.  But without touching the screen except to look at browser history, I find a long (5-10) list of that site as soon as it takes over the screen.  I don't know how my history queue accumulates those, but it weren't me.

t

David R's picture
David R

Maybe multiple pop-up windows.

OldLoaf's picture
OldLoaf

This one just popped up a few minutes ago:

Using iPhone and Safari.  Doesn't seem to happen using Chrome.

 

Valdus's picture
Valdus

Alas, how can we stomp this out. Crush it!

David R's picture
David R

Someone has already solved this, because on some versions it doesn't happen. Find out who solved it and what they did.

DanAyo's picture
DanAyo

I just notified Floyd in case he isn’t aware yet. This isn’t going away.

pmccool's picture
pmccool

Or I’d be seeing it with my iPhone and iPad, too.  

It seems more likely that your browsers have been commandeered by malware or by a particularly persistent website.  

Have you attempted closing your browser and shutting off your device?  Sometimes a hard boot after closing the browser is enough to shake this kind of pest.  With any luck, your system will reset once you power it back on. 

Best of luck. 

Paul

OldLoaf's picture
OldLoaf

I flushed the cache and browsing history in Safari, then did a forced reboot on my iPhone.  Haven't seen any signs of it again.  Oddly, it was only Safari that had the problem.  Never happened with Chrome.

Thanks Paul

--Jeff

 

DanAyo's picture
DanAyo

I restarted my iPhone and so far so good. I am hopeful. 

Thanks, Paul!

missnene's picture
missnene

I have an iPhone 6 (iOS 12.1.4) and use Safari.  Do I need to do something to protect myself?  Or is it just annoying?

DanAyo's picture
DanAyo

As far as I know, it is just annoying. I have had this happen many times and to my knowledge no damage was done. I did not click the links, though

Dan

seasidejess's picture
seasidejess

I started getting the same thing when browsing TFL on my Android phone using Chrome. I switched to Firefox as my mobile browser, which has support for extensions (called Add-Ons) and installed the Ublock Origin add-on, which blocks all ads.

This was effective at preventing the malware pop-ups. My son, who is studying computer security/virus prevention, says it is the website that is infected/the source of the problem.  My guess is that maybe an advertiser on the site is unscrupulous and is serving malware instead of a normal advert. Perhaps the standard mobile browsers are just a little less robust and not as good at stopping it as the regular desktop browsers. 

The Roadside Pie King's picture
The Roadside Pi...

This has not happened to me. However my experience is, that when in the passed I have carelessly mistype a url, that is when I am redirected to these types of web sites.