TCF pages automatically directing me to scam sites

It's happened to me several times over the past few days - and ONLY on this site, out of 100s I've visited. This is a problem.

 

I was somehow redirected to some spam/malware site when this was the only site I had open in my browser (latest Firefox). The malware site opened in the same tab i had this site open in. (I could have accidentally clicked an ad, I suppose.)

My system appears clean so I suspect a rogue ad somewhere on this site.

I can't provide any data or proof I'm afraid, but I thought I would mention it just in case!

Edit: I see I'm not alone and this has been going on for weeks now? Hmmm...

Edit 2: and Just for information... indeed it was the "something is wrong with your windows" site displayed in the message at the top of this thread.

 

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Yes, I get the same thing. I have to run an ad blocker on TCF. Can't run it at all on a phone it's so bad. Pretty sad they're so greedy they can't bring themselves to remove this crap.

 

It happens to me, too.

I had to re-enable my ad-blocker to stop it.

There's been more than 1. One tries to get me to download a .js file. The other is some kind of spam site.

It's been occurring for at least a month.

-KP

 

I've had it happen multiple times. I've seen "upgrade to latest version of Firefox", and "you have the Zeus virus", maybe some others. Usually locks up the browser too, I have to reboot the computer. As far as I can remember it has only happened when using Firefox. Maybe my settings for FF are different than my IE settings.

 

It's not a FF or settings issue. Happens everywhere (Safari, Chrome, etc.). The root cause is TCF itself. IE may be a little better at blocking popups or rejecting redirects, who knows.

 

I have had this several times tonight on an iPhone using safari.

 

I'm not disabling my Ad-Blocker (ABP) again until I'm assured it's been fixed.

-KP

 

Some are dangerous I think. The one that said "update to the latest version of Firefox" wanted to download something. Almost had me fooled, looked semi-legit but I checked the actual link which was NOT legit. I also checked my Firefox settings for an actual update check and there were none. I am a bit worried, spam is one thing, tricking people into downloading who knows what is very bad.

 

I was just thinking about starting a thread about this when I saw the topic in the sidebar. I have had this happen several times on this site recently on my tablet. It redirects to a junk page and locks up the Chrome Browser. I have to exit out of the app and empty the cache then force stop and reopen it. The page is usually still open but then I am able to close it at least. One time I had to completely reboot the tablet. Had this happen a couple of times on the Bored Panda site on my tablet too. It has never happened on my PC, but I do use an adblocker (Ghostery) in my Opera browser and additional antivirus which probably prevents it.

I understand these sites' revenue comes from ads, but when the ads stops the site from loading properly or worse yet do this kind of crap.... I have to use an ad blocker. I thought I could just install something similar to Ghostery for my tablet's browsers? But, the only thing I could find on the Google Play Store was to install browsers that I have never heard of which supposedly have built in ad-blockers. So you can't just use an ad blocker extension for the browsers on the Android OS? Is that because Google makes a ton of revenue through their own ad service? I wouldn't even mind the ads if it was just text or a picture and not videos or content that could be malware.

 

Yup. I can't even browse TCF at all on the iPhone. It's hardly a random rogue ad, it's a full-fledged browser hijack making viewing the forum completely impossible, with multiple occurrences happening over and over. Bummer.

 

I've seen the same thing, if you're using an iOS you can download AdBlock Plus from the App Store and then turn it on in Setting -> Safari and content blockers.

 

That's an unacceptable answer. If you're going to be displaying ads you need to make sure it's from a reputable source and that they've taken every precaution feasible to prevent these type of issues, as so far I haven't see that being done with the continuing and ongoing issues.

 

Sounds like it's time to switch ad networks, or adjust the settings of the current one. Many other sites seem to be able to have ads without the major problems seen here, based on numerous reports posted about it.
It doesn't impact me since I'm a club member (and I'm using ad blockers anyway), but it does sound like a horrible experience for many folks.

 

I get "you've won ....." pop ups occasionally using Google Chrome on my iPad.