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Increase In Image Cookie Stuffing ....

by Jeff Usher
22 replies
Guys,

Not sure if you have noticed but there's been a really big increase in image cookie stuffing on the forum here ... particularly the WSO area.

Just a heads up - if you see posts from people with very low counts, and they contain the broken image graphic, then you have more than likely been image cookie stuffed. They seem to be targeting hosting providers such as JustHost and GoDaddy. Here's an example:-



How can you check if you've been cookie stuffed ? Right-click on the broken image and open it in a new tab .... you should then be taken to the site that is being cookie stuffed and not to an image.

Unfortunately there's not a lot we can do about it, as once you have loaded the thread up in your browser, you have been stuffed and if you then go off to GoDaddy and purchase a nice new domain name, the stuffer will get their cut for the sale.

The mods are doing a great job clearing the posts up, but the culprits seem to just create new accounts and start again.

If you see these posts, please use our powers of self-moderation and use the "report post" option. This will clear them down a lot quicker.

Happy New Year Everyone

Jeff
#cookie #image #increase #stuffing
  • Profile picture of the author Gail_Curran
    Very true. I came here one morning recently and there were at least 4 on the board at the same time.

    There are other ways to identify these parasites.

    For example, if you go to the WSO section and you see the same user has posted in a bunch of threads within a short period of time, that's a clue. Look at their recent posts and if you see a link to an image, report them.

    Some cookie stuffers use similar types of usernames, too. You start to recognize them.

    Many of these parasites will make 15 posts very quickly, with no cookies in them. These posts are often just copied from an earlier post in the thread. Once they've got their 15, they will go back and add the cookies.
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  • Profile picture of the author Fernando Veloso
    So all these posts with broken images are cookies. Ouch. I remember to report a lot of these a couple months ago, guess they're back in town.

    Thanks for the warning and explanation!
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  • Profile picture of the author rosetrees
    Yup - I just found one in the wso section with 15 posts. As the OP said, it's a rogue Godaddy affiliate.

    Do you think there is any point in reporting this to Godaddy? The stuffer appears to be using a redirect.
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    • Profile picture of the author Lloyd Buchinski
      The broken images don't show in FF, but do in Chrome, Safari, and probably other browsers too.

      Originally Posted by rosetrees View Post

      Do you think there is any point in reporting this to Godaddy?
      That sounds like an extremely good idea. If the affiliate id gets reported and the account is cancelled, that will dampen the enthusiasm about cookie stuffing. I'd think that is worth a little bit of work to set it up.

      There's probably some free free script around to do the job now, and that helps with the popularity. You get people doing it who only have to insert their affiliate link in the right place.
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    • Profile picture of the author ArielT
      Originally Posted by rosetrees View Post

      Yup - I just found one in the wso section with 15 posts. As the OP said, it's a rogue Godaddy affiliate.

      Do you think there is any point in reporting this to Godaddy? The stuffer appears to be using a redirect.
      I don't think that is a good or accurate idea, what if that would be done by someone trying to harm other? pretending to be the real affiliate

      Althogh this would be not very probably, the probability could exist, I've read a article out there of someone telling he was harmed by someone cookie staffing his affiliate code

      If the history I've read was true or not, I don't know so far
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  • Profile picture of the author Steve Solem
    Thanks for posting Jeff! I reported a few of these in the WSO section yesterday not quite knowing what they were and I'll be clearing my cookies now.
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  • Profile picture of the author Matthew Shane Roe
    It's kind of senseless using GoDaddy now, lol. Everyone is moving over to Namecheap .

    That would be the second smartest choice for these spammers to do, the first being not doing it at all.
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  • Profile picture of the author LetsGoViral
    If you want to solve this problem disable images or enable script which checks if the image format is recognized.
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  • Profile picture of the author David Keith
    Am I wrong, I thought the image had to load in order to set the cookie.

    I have reported several of these guys lately, but I like the idea of some of us trying to work out the affiliate id's.

    I have several contacts of affiliate managers in the hosting industry who I am sure would like to know about these rogue affiliates.
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    • Profile picture of the author bt
      Another thing you can do is to just disable cookies in your browser when you are surfing the web. If you're using Windows 7, click on tools, then Internet properties, then privacy, then advanced, and then tick both of the block options and then click okay.
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      • Profile picture of the author tpw
        Originally Posted by Skid_Roe View Post

        It's kind of senseless using GoDaddy now, lol. Everyone is moving over to Namecheap .

        That would be the second smartest choice for these spammers to do, the first being not doing it at all.

        Even with the mass exodus away from GoDaddy, it is still one of, it not, the largest domain registrar in the world.


        Originally Posted by David Keith View Post

        Am I wrong, I thought the image had to load in order to set the cookie.

        I have reported several of these guys lately, but I like the idea of some of us trying to work out the affiliate id's.

        I have several contacts of affiliate managers in the hosting industry who I am sure would like to know about these rogue affiliates.

        Identifying the spammer's affiliate id would be very useful in slowing this activity to a crawl.


        Originally Posted by bt View Post

        Another thing you can do is to just disable cookies in your browser when you are surfing the web. If you're using Windows 7, click on tools, then Internet properties, then privacy, then advanced, and then tick both of the block options and then click okay.

        When you disable cookies, you would have to login to the forum every time you wanted to post.
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        • Profile picture of the author bt
          Originally Posted by tpw View Post

          Even with the mass exodus away from GoDaddy, it is still one of, it not, the largest domain registrar in the world.





          Identifying the spammer's affiliate id would be very useful in slowing this activity to a crawl.





          When you disable cookies, you would have to login to the forum every time you wanted to post.
          No you don't Bill, before logging Into the forum just go back to advanced and then tick prompt and then ok. Now login to the forum and you will get a message asking you If you want to accept the cookie from the Warrior forum, tick accept and then go back to advanced and tick the block option again and click ok.

          This will allow you to login to the forum with your cookies disabled.
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        • Profile picture of the author Matthew Shane Roe
          Originally Posted by tpw View Post

          Even with the mass exodus away from GoDaddy, it is still one of, it not, the largest domain registrar in the world.

          Yea, that's true lol.

          I'm going to message you on Skype later, have something to talk to you about
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  • Profile picture of the author HeySal
    Are these LSO (super cookies?) If so, clearing cookies in your browser isn't enough to get rid of them. Crap Cleaner might - Better Privacy plugin from FF will. Not sure if other browsers have an equivalent plugin or not.
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    • Profile picture of the author bt
      Originally Posted by HeySal View Post

      Are these LSO (super cookies?) If so, clearing cookies in your browser isn't enough to get rid of them. Crap Cleaner might - Better Privacy plugin from FF will. Not sure if other browsers have an equivalent plugin or not.

      You are not clearing the cookies, you are completely disabling cookies In the Internet Explorer browser. When you clear your cookies all you are doing Is deleting your browser history.
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  • Profile picture of the author Michelle McDaniel
    So these guys make a post but include an image in the post, but it stuffs cookies?

    Where does go daddy fit into this?
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    • Profile picture of the author tpw
      Originally Posted by Michelle McDaniel View Post

      So these guys make a post but include an image in the post, but it stuffs cookies?

      Where does go daddy fit into this?

      They are using an image tag to put an image url into the forum.

      The actual image url is a redirect to an affiliate url.

      Most are promoting GoDaddy and HostGator.
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      • Profile picture of the author mojojuju
        Originally Posted by tpw View Post

        They are using an image tag to put an image url into the forum.

        The actual image url is a redirect to an affiliate url.
        .

        You don't even need to use an image url (ending with jpg, gif, png) in order for the forum software to accept it as an image. I'm surprised because lots of forums won't accept it as an image unless it ends with a common image file extension.

        For instance, right here > < is Google's web site loaded in an image tag. In other words, your browser just loaded Google with no action on your part.

        But even if the forum required that all images end in png, gif, or jpg as many do, it's easy to get around that as well.

        Originally Posted by David Keith View Post

        Am I wrong, I thought the image had to load in order to set the cookie.
        There is no image. It's an affiliate url. Some browsers like IE and chrome will display the broken image icon, but they still load web site url that's in the image tag.
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        • Profile picture of the author E. Brian Rose
          Originally Posted by mojojuju View Post

          You don't even need to use an image url (ending with jpg, gif, png) in order for the forum software to accept it as an image. I'm surprised because lots of forums won't accept it as an image unless it ends with a common image file extension.

          For instance, right here > < is Google's web site loaded in an image tag. In other words, your browser just loaded Google with no action on your part.
          Yup, if you view the source code of this page, you will see that he cookie stuffed google's website. Here is what you will see...

          Code:
          For instance, right here &gt;<img src="http://www.google.com/" border="0" alt="" /> &lt; is Google's web site loaded in an image tag. In other words, your browser just loaded Google with no action on your part.<br /> <br />
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          • Profile picture of the author zerofill
            Originally Posted by E. Brian Rose View Post

            Yup, if you view the source code of this page, you will see that he cookie stuffed google's website. Here is what you will see...

            Code:
            For instance, right here &gt;<img src="http://www.google.com/" border="0" alt="" /> &lt; is Google's web site loaded in an image tag. In other words, your browser just loaded Google with no action on your part.<br /> <br />
            Your not talking about this are you EBR?


            JK... those are actually images lol
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    • Profile picture of the author UMS
      Originally Posted by Michelle McDaniel View Post

      So these guys make a post but include an image in the post, but it stuffs cookies?

      Where does go daddy fit into this?
      GoDaddy just happens to be one of the sites these spammers are targeting.

      The image could contain an affiliate link to any affiliate link/product, but I'm guessing they chose GoDaddy as it is so well known and used by so many people.
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  • Profile picture of the author alexdan4
    thanks for warning us. I will start of deleting cookies before I purchase something.
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