'2degrees Mobile Customer Loyalty' Scam

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SamF

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#253044 23-Jul-2019 01:21

Over the last week or so I have had a 2degrees mobile customer loyalty' scam website pop up when browsing on my Android tablet. The address is 'mobileluckyclient.club'.

This seems to be a recycling of a similar scam that was doing the rounds last year.

I found one recent scam report on it here: https://www.signal-arnaques.com/en/scam/view/168407

What disturbs me the most about this is the manner in which it appears. I will be reading a website article or something and then the scam site loads with no warning and without me triggering anything, loading over the page I was on. It's not a pop-up, it actually loads a new page in the tab.

These are legit sites such as:
https://www.theverge.com/2019/7/19/20700659/klm-airline-fatalities-tweet-india-apology
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/2017/09/07/kathleen-kennedy-star-wars-universe-safe-hands
https://m.benzinga.com/article/14043295

I cannot reproduce the behavior on demand by re-visiting the sites.

I am using Chrome.

It almost seems like my device has been infected with some kind of malware.

Has anyone else experienced this issue?

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BDFL - Memuneh
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#2281871 23-Jul-2019 06:52

This is most likely some app you installed that is loading those ads.

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GV27

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#2281877 23-Jul-2019 07:16

I've had this too. I'm slowly stripping back apps to see if I can stop it.

freitasm

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#2281878 23-Jul-2019 07:18

My mother-in-law had this and it was a solitaire game she installed. Removed it, gone.

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mudguard

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#2281926 23-Jul-2019 08:21

I get it too. But only on my Android tablet, which has very little installed on it. I only get it visiting one particular Mountainbike website. Using Chrome and it's on the Vodafone network. I'm not sure if I get it when it's on wifi. I'll have to check.

SamF

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#2281930 23-Jul-2019 08:38

freitasm: This is most likely some app you installed that is loading those ads.

Hmm, I installed a new app recently, but uninstalled it again the same day.

I guess it could have left some kind of leftover process?

Is there some kind of adware checking app I could run? I already tried Malwarebytes and Kespersky AV, but everything's squeaky clean.

Stu

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#2281933 23-Jul-2019 08:47

Just went hunting and got (probably) the same ad pop up on an S7 Edge, while viewing "news" suggestions via Google Now and clicking on a link to instructables (I think, I clicked on a few articles to see if anything appeared). Nothing new installed, and it's not generated by another app. Snoopy Google passing snoopy info.

People often mistake me for an adult because of my age.

Keep calm, and carry on posting.

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freitasm

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#2281936 23-Jul-2019 08:55

There are also the possibility of compromised websites.

There is one eatery in Wellington that will redirect to a spam site if you visit then from a Google search, and only on the first visit.

Reported to owners but still does it even after a year.

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SamF

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#2281937 23-Jul-2019 08:56

I just ran an ad detection app and there's nothing unusual showing.

I guess it could be an existing app which has had an update?

The odd thing is that the ads aren't the usual popup style; they actually appear as a website in my browser so I'm not sure how that is even possible - for an app to take over the tab like that.

SamF

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#2281938 23-Jul-2019 08:59

freitasm: There are also the possibility of compromised websites.

There is one watery in Wellington that will redirect to a spam site if you visit then from a Google search, and only on the first visit.

Reported to owners but still does it even after a year.

Yeah, I was thinking that too, but it's multiple sites, some pretty well established, and all at the same time. Seems like an unlikely coincidence.

Perhaps if we document any affected sites here we can see if there a pattern?

SamF

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#2281956 23-Jul-2019 09:12

Just been doing some research on this and another possibility is a dodgy ad containing JavaScript.

dazhann

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#2281957 23-Jul-2019 09:14

Using Chrome on desktop visiting rugbypass I get an advert popup bottom right hand corner. Close it another pops up. Generally after the third one it stops Using Opera or Firefox nothing. My fix delete chrome all sorted.

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#2281965 23-Jul-2019 09:28

dazhann:

Using Chrome on desktop visiting rugbypass I get an advert popup bottom right hand corner. Close it another pops up. Generally after the third one it stops Using Opera or Firefox nothing. My fix delete chrome all sorted.

Thats a case where uBlock origin inspector comes in handy (and follow up submission to list handlers)

SamF

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#2281970 23-Jul-2019 09:43

Ok, that's weird!

The word 'case' in that last post is linked to eBay for me! But only on Chrome.

EDIT: Oh, now it's gone!?

freitasm

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#2282047 23-Jul-2019 10:02

SamF:

Ok, that's weird!

The word 'case' in that last post is linked to eBay for me! But only on Chrome.

EDIT: Oh, now it's gone!?

That's normal. Some words are linked to aff links when visiting Geekzone without being logged in. Once you login these don't show.

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ShinyChrome

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#2282082 23-Jul-2019 10:42

I have found there are 'enhanced' websites that this happens for me. Trying to use AVS forums on mobile brings up an 'enhanced mobile version' of the website, which is sh!tty, and breaks, and its sh1tty, and I hate it. But I am guessing something under the hood got compromised at some stage, because without fail every time I visited it over the space of a couple of weeks, I would get the same redirect to mobile lucky club at random. Desktop was completely fine though. Seems to be fixed now.

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