Possible I found the Source of all the SPAM Auto Posting Attacks on Elgg Sites

It is possible I could have tracked down the site or online business that is making money from HARD work and Time that myself and many others have put into our sites.

I have over 4,000 Auto Generated Spam Accounts that someone has been creating over several months. Only way I was able to stop them was to TOTALLY DISABLE ALL KNEW SIGN UPS.

I now force everyone to Sign Up with Facebook, Google or OpenID. There is no other option thanks to these A... HOLES!

I found that they also are now trying another tactic that will upset a great deal of people on here. I am not going to disclose this other method right now but it could damage any site on here even This ONE!

I am going to POST this link so everyone sees it. I have traced and found this link a few times already so it keeps on showing up. These people are Using our ELGG sites to create PR4+ Backlinks and are selling them and more as part of thier So Called SEO Services. I am already sending a Detailed Complaint to GOOGLE to have thier DOMAIN and any others they USE BANNED from GOOGLE.

This will KILL their BIZ instantly since they are trying to destroy my site and many others. Here is the link see for yourself if you been SPAMMED with many accounts you need to search for this domain.

Also you better SEARCH your own Domain and find out if they have registered your same domain in their own Country.

Problem is they can Register Elgg.tk right now. The effect that this has is unknown but in the SEO World and Black Hat World it can be Catastrophic. Please anyone who has any information on this please contact me I am investigating this because of damages.

 

URL of Suspected SCAM and SPAM main site: http://freetrafficsystem.tk/

 

 

  • Can you tell me about what kind of spam.  Did it show up as multiple posts each with paragraphs of nonsense? 

    Just curious because I've been having this problem lately.

  • The thing that I've done is to use Bret's uncaptcha plugin,but I can't seem to find the link for the plugin now.I was talking to my webhost and they mentioned use htaccess to stop those domains.There is also mailslapping.com and quite a few others.

    you can download the zip file here.It's solid for 1.6.1 and it works on 1.7.1 but you have to set the return page to your main page if yoiu're running 1.7.1.Just set the hidden feild as moms address or something not real,and disable the captcha plugin.This stops bots,but people can still join by hand.

  • I just found this code to try in my .htaccess file,place it anywhere it fits.I've got my fingers crossed,I enabled registrationbyemail and captcha.I'll know by tomorrow if it worked.

    <Limit GET HEAD POST>
    order allow,deny
    deny from mailslapping.com
    deny from freetrafficsystem.tk
    allow from all
    </LIMIT>

  • Soldierone, I don't think the link proves this is the company responsible for the spam, although it's very probable. Elgg spam is certainly used for Google positioning, as it has little value as an advertising spam in  it's current form. Company that does positioning probably won't hire someone else to do positioning for them.

     

    I just wonder how we could prove this is them.

     

    They are spending a lot of time investigating new ways of spamming, as some actions are not performed by algorithms, but by humans. Lately someone tried to tune algorithm specifically to my website, as custom form with unique field names was attacked as well. Description was in title field, while title field in description. Still, attacker filled them correctly.

  • I've had to update my htaccess file with three more domains since yesterday.The good new is that mailslapping.com did not post,which was happening every day.The problem with this is that there could be millions of these goofy domains.

    <Limit GET HEAD POST>
    order allow,deny
    deny from mailslapping.com
    deny from freetrafficsystem.tk
    deny from fivebs.info
    deny from tenbd.info
    deny from nineai.info
    allow from all
    </LIMIT>

  • You could also try tracking the IPs of the spammers. There's a tracker plugin on this community.

  • Trackings IPS is not going to work too well. They are using Proxy servers so most or all of the IPS are coming from computers from all over the world different countries and they hide behind these. Most of the latest even old types of Backlink Spam programs use Proxy servers and they even check to make sure they are working for you before they send your posts.

    This person is using the ELGG API and created an APP that sets up accounts with RANDOM Usernames and EMAILS somehow. They are able to Verify the Email address also since I have this plugin going where they must verify their email before they can get on the site.

    So the API of ELGG I think is being EXPLOITED you think back years ago with the DDos Attacks Broadcast attacks where people used to SCAN for Linux or CISCO Servers that had a Back Door or open port where they can gain ROOT ACCESS or they have the default ADMIN Password on CISCO Routers of Admin. There is a very SIMPLE FLAW and Exploit just like this with ELGG API I feel.

    Think about it how many APPS are there for TWITTER??? It is not hard to make a AUTO SPAM Blackhat SEO Backlink program for ELGG someone has already done it and it is not being shared of course!

    If this is the case GOD HELP US ALL because I really do not even want to go there on trying to Disable the entire ELGG API.

    To hell with that I might as well go back to using OLD SCHOOL mIRC and set up my own mIRC Server or something!

    I am going to say this I looked last night and I think that even this site is UNDER ATTACK with SPAM accounts. There are over 33,000 Member accounts on here and this site is Page Rank 6 or 7 and with a high page rank mine is Page Rank 4 but soon to be 6 or 7 also. With Page Rank like this you are ALWAYS going to be a TARGET for Spam Accounts and Spam Blogs.

    These guys see that THE WIRE does very little for SEO. They create BLOGS saying RANDOM CRAP with all kinds of Anchor Text Links all over them. Some are trying to HIDE these Anchor Text Links in them and on their Profile Pages and Google makes it CLEAR that if you have a HELL of a lot of Misleading TAGS and Anchor Texts that your DOMAIN will be BANNED!!

    Think about that everyone! You get banned from Google because of some A HOLE SEO Backhat Service who are selling Mass Spam Backlinks One Way Links they call them.

    I am going after this Company I found and I will make sure they BURN IN HELL.

  • What these LAME Spammers do not know is the Damage they do to use we can do even greater back to them. I will not even go there and disclose this but be advised there are things you can do to anyone who has a domain that will get them black listed on all search engines.

    If that happens why the hell would you keep that domain you have to throw it away and let it expire. Since the LAWS do not protect Victims as they are suppose to on the WEB and these A HOLES are Offshore overseas and not in the USA there is little we can do!

  • The above LINK at the TOP the first post I did I have seen their website link on several of these Spam Accounts they tried to HIDE it in Random Generated Account Profile Pages and in MASS Blogs. They do not USE THEWIRE that much so be advised of this. They know that THEWIRE leaves them very wide open to being caught and seen. Plus I know from my own experiece that THEWIRE is almost worthless when it comes to SEO Backlink building. So this is both a good and bad thing for us.

    What makes ELGG so valueable is the BLOG plugin. Fact is the Title alone of each blog you post contains most of your title and keyword already. These guys are very aware of this of course. Next in the blog it's self they use the anchor text links to try to hide the links. If you seen any of these blogs they are about RANDOM stuff in broken english with very bad grammer.

    These blogs are the One Way Links that this company is selling as their main service. There are thousands of accounts like this on my site and I had to close down all new accounts and forced everyone to sign up by Facebook Google or OpenID.

    This greatly slowed them down but still they were creading OpenID, Facebook and Google Spam Accounts so there is no way possible to stop it.

    One way to get back at them is to track down the source like I did. They are offering Backlinks as a service selling them. Well guess what I am GIVING away Backlinks for FREE!!!

    Very simple is take all of their Highest Ranked Keywords and use them all in Subdomain sites. Then you promote the HELL out of these on Social Network sites and have them all LINK to one main area.

    The same service they sell I now have an Auto Backlink Exchange that is FREE and I have found it is working it gives PR Rank and PR Juice as they call it. The more people who use this Script that I found it then gives you back Page Rank in return and since it is FREE anyone will do it why the HELL would you pay for ONE WAY links anymore??

    So the best way to get back if you ever find the source since it will be from a business you hurt them where it really counts. I know this might not have been the best thing to share but seriously I am happy to disclose this method if it HURTS these guys back and it will.

    Also there are hundreds of these Backlink Auto Exchange sites all over the place. I found one that is Page Rank 9! OMG PR 9! Not even Twitter will give you this much LOVE OK! To get the REAL PR Juice your link needs to show up on their MAIN PAGE not in a Forum or a Blog but the Main Page.

  • So everyone who runs an ELGG site check for this link below if it is hidden in text links or anchor tags in blogs on your site or profiles.

     

    URL of Suspected SCAM and SPAM main site: http://freetrafficsystem.tk/

    Also check to see if they have Registered your DOMAIN but in a .NET or .INFO or what ever .ORG. This is something that is going on also. That above company is Registering your DOMAIN with .tk since I am in USA I am not able to register for that. They are showing up in the rankings with me because of this.

    What happen if I were to Take Elgg.info or Elgg.co right now?? If they are open anyone can take them and get HUGE Traffic FAST!