The sender’s address was Google AdWords <adwords-noreply@google.com>. At first I was a little concerned, but then I read the email carefully.  There were two things that struck me:

1. I don’t use Google AdWords
2. Just take a look at the grammar

There’s a hyperlink in the email that I’m sure will take me to a Google AdWords look-alike site if I were to click on it, but I’m not clicking on the link (and caution you against clicking on it too if you should receive such an email).

I tried reporting the phishing scam to Google using their suspicious email report form but received the following email auto response within minutes of submitting the report:

Hello,

We understand the urgent nature of your message and recommend that you
visit the Gmail Privacy & Security Help Center at
https://mail.google.com/support/bin/topic.py?topic=12784 for immediate
assistance.

If you’d like to report a Gmail user who has sent messages that violate
the Gmail Program Policies and/or Terms of Use, please fill out a report
form at
http://mail.google.com/support/bin/request.py?contact_type=abuse_phishing.
We’ll investigate your report and may send a warning or discontinue Gmail
service for users who violate our policies.

If your issue is not related to abuse, please visit our Help Center at
http://mail.google.com/support/ or click ‘Help’ at the top of any Gmail
page for troubleshooting tips.

Sincerely,

The Google Team

*********
This message was sent from a notification-only email address that does not
accept incoming email. Please do not reply to this message.

The response was a little disappointing since I’m not reporting  Gmail abuse.  Unfortunately, I didn’t want to spend the day going around in circles trying to report this phishing attempt, so it went unreported except for what I’m reporting here.

www.qq829.com/web_stat.asp?dn=www.websitename.com

Of course websitename.com was the actual domain name of the blog or website they were visiting.
After seeing a few of these weird entries, I did a little snooping around. I found a thread on the Google Analytics forum regarding these odd entries. Apparently I’m not the only one getting such visits. This web address seems to be linked in some way to a site call cznn which has been known to distribute malware. This is not something I want attached to any of my blogs.

Temporary Fix for the qq829 Situation.

At first, I tried banning the IP addresses. That proved to be an exercise in futility because the IP addresses never seemed to be the same. Through the Google conversation, I found the AurelloSoft site. They specialize in computer security and they recommend blocking these visits by modifying the .htaccess file on the website/blog’s server with the following code:

I removed the code from this post because the code wouldn't display properly. To get the correct code, visit the AurelloSoft Website.


I entered the code on all of my sites. Hopefully it’s working, because I still see the same weird www.qq829.com entries. Although seeing the entries means that the attempts are still being made. It doesn’t mean that they’re getting in.

Take Preventative Measures

If you are not in the habit of checking your visitor stats, give them a look see. You might want to place the above code in your .htaccess file to be on the safe side.

Just another little something to keep us all busy.

UPDATE: I took it one step further. After looking at the source code from the URL of one of the unwanted visitors and finding words such as “net user hacker” and “net localgroup administrators hacker” and “Administrator Guest hacker,” I decided to step things up a bit.

Until this whole mystery is solved I have blocked all visitors from China. I used the .htaccess method as recommended by the Parkansky website  (actually, I am currently using both .htaccess methods).

After receiving a few comments regarding Factoidz’ payment habits, I did a little snooping around their forums. When I saw a post entitled “Why am I making money on Factoidz but not being paid?” I realized there was something amiss.

I wrote to Factoidz expressing my concerns. If and when I hear back from them, I’ll share the info. In the meanwhile, you might want to hold off writing for them.

Of course it sounded too good to be true and being the myth buster that I tend to be I decided to do a little (and I mean very little) research. This obvious scam bait wasn’t worth doing an in-depth dissertation.

A Little Research

A couple of clicks brought me to this page, (just one of many). In essence, this e-mail processing program seems to be the online equivalent of the old ‘stuffing envelopes’ work at home scam. It only took a few clicks to find out the scoop.

[smartads]

Don’t let your intense desire to earn money online prevent you from doing the necessary research before buying into a program. Folks who are at their wits end and desperate to earn money might just fall for such e-mail processing scams. As you have no doubt read several times on line and off line, if it sounds too good to be true…it is. If they ask for credit card information before you can earn money with their brand of job…click away. It is absolutely possible to earn money on line without paying a cent.

A Few Assumptions

I once posted my previous statement about earning money without paying a cent in a forum and one of the forum participants actually posted that it was impossible to do. “After all, you had to buy a computer and pay for internet access.” He then went on a tirade about how nothing was free.

I know my blog readers are a much more on the ball than that particular forum participant. The assumption is …if you’re sitting here reading this post, you have access to a computer and the internet. The very same access you’re using now is exactly all you need to earn money on line. Just let your mouse do the preliminary research work for you before you sign up for a money making program.

If you’re not sure whether or not it’s a scam, remember this, “When it doubt, click out.”

These scam opportunities work for two basic reasons.

1. Scam artists know that many people are looking to get rich quick and,
2. People are so desperate to get out of their current situation that they are willing to try just about anything.

In today’s economy with prices rising and salaries not rising to keep up with the rising prices, many people are frustrated and at the end of their financial rope. Their desperation is exactly what the scam artists prey upon.
[smartads]
Before you sign up for any affiliate or any work-at-home program, it is increasingly important to do your homework. Here are a few things to check, investigate and think about before you sign up for an online (or off line for that matter) program:

1. You should not have to pay someone to work for them. If they require you to pay $29.95 or whatever amount just so that you can work for them, a red flag should go up.
2. Contact the consumer protection agency in your area. If you’re unsure where to find a protection agency in your country, visit Consumer World. It has a pretty comprehensive listing of consumer protection agencies around the world. Their international listings start alphabetically with Asia and ends with Wales with a host of countries listed in between.
3. Scam lists. Access websites that maintain a list of companies who are known for their scamming practices. Here’s one such list PTC/PTR Scam List and Reviews.
4. Speak to current participants in the program. Don’t go by the testimonials on the company’s web site. Speak to current participants and ask for proof of payment.
5. Customer Support – Find out how the affiliate program or company handles your questions and what kind of support and teaching tools you will have access to in order to become successful in the business.
6. Do an intense web search on the company. Search beyond the first few page links in the search results. Sometimes scam companies are smart enough to be able to populate the topmost spots in search engine results. They create websites that fraudulently promote their scam business. You will have to search a little deeper.
7. Search the blogs. If the company has been around for a little while, more than likely someone has a blog about the company’s practices or the blog may share actual first hand experience with the company. Be sure to follow the blog links if they will point you to additional sources of information.
8. Talk to yourself as if you were your best friend. If your best friend came to you with this opportunity and asked you for advice as to whether or not to proceed, what advice would you offer? People tend to give better advice to a friend than they do for themselves.
9. Follow your intuition. If it seems too good to be true…it is.