[WARNING: Scam site]Found a site which is looks just like SF site, and we are also its members??

Discussion in 'Site Feedback' started by sweetpea, Apr 5, 2016.

  1. Q-reeus Banned Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    4,695
    Just stumbled on what apart from the site name, seems to be an exact clone of SciForums: http://www.sarahdream.com/
    Can someone in admin please explain what the hell is the purpose of having this clone? Or is Sarahdream.com the true original? Or have I slipped into an alternate reality?
    While we're at it, are there any other clones out there? If so let's have a full list.
    [In case anyone is wondering - I had not seen this thread before just earlier starting my own one entitled Sarahdreams Forums = Sciforums!!! (yeah I slightly misspelled.) So my thread disappears but post got redirected to here.]
    Blast!
     
    Last edited: Apr 30, 2016
  2. Guest Guest Advertisement



    to hide all adverts.
  3. sweetpea Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    1,329
    Q-reeus, did you read the OP of this thread, the mods have told us to stay clear of that site. Apart from that and some others here probing that site???...we haven't heard nothing from any admin/mods. I did come across another clone site my post #74, and see my post #76 for something real scary.
     
  4. Guest Guest Advertisement



    to hide all adverts.
  5. Q-reeus Banned Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    4,695
    Yeah thanks for warning. I checked out betterkitchenutensils.com and it's just some Chinese cheap goods website that looks legit.
    Drop-down 'allow Sarahdream.com' issue seems to be fixed, but I note post #77 - incident report to XenForo - was 17th April but nothing fixed yet. How pathetic.
    What bugs is I can't recall if I did log into the fake site - got so dammed confused checking one to the other. Thankfully password used here won't help anyone get my banking details.
     
  6. Guest Guest Advertisement



    to hide all adverts.
  7. sweetpea Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    1,329
    Since my 'NoScripts' experience, If I were one of those considering a financial donation to Sciforums, I would now be really suspect of the 'workings' of sciforums.
    If admin start to wonder why there's a drop-off in contributions perhaps they might push things along. Just keep your eyes on the'NoScripts' drop-down when on Sciforums.
     
  8. Bowser Namaste Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    8,828
    Didn't know they were accepting donations. Is that done through PayPal? Always thought their revenue was by way of ads.
     
  9. DaveC426913 Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    18,959
    Ads or no, they're happy to accept donations. You can do an email transfer through your bank. Send it to scifocharitycase@davec426913.com.
     
  10. spidergoat pubic diorama Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    54,036
    Sciforms has a bunch of mirrors, this is probably just one of them.
     
  11. rpenner Fully Wired Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    4,833
    The bank won't fit in the snail-mail slot, nor can I find a way to attach it with my iPhone. Can I fax it?
     
  12. DaveC426913 Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    18,959
    You can always deliver it by hand. Safest way for sure.

    Leave it under this tree, which is official, and labeled 'Official SciFoDonation Dropoff Do Not Steal', and then walk away.
     
    exchemist likes this.
  13. sweetpea Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    1,329
    Hold on. If thats true, then why did I have to give my bank details when I joined Sciforums

    Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

    Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!



    I must have got this site muddled with another, just shows how much I get around here.
    edit to add: No,that other site is not the sarahdream wotnot site.

    Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

     
    Last edited by a moderator: May 3, 2016
    joepistole likes this.
  14. Bowser Namaste Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    8,828
    PayPal?
     
    Xelasnave.1947 likes this.
  15. sweetpea Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    1,329
    Just noticed, someone has tacked a β€œ[ WARNING: Scam site] β€œ to the thread title.
    Why not pin the thread at the top for a while if it's a warning?
    By the way, could a nice mod delete the word β€œis” from the thread title...I may be an idiot, but I'm trying to keep it quiet.
     
  16. Stryder Keeper of "good" ideas. Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    13,105
    this is where upgrading the site to SSL would be useful, it makes it a little more difficult for someone to "clone" a site since it requires the certificates to have the correct DOM.

    Rogue sites are usually done to pretty much either up the number of SEO results, or to pretty much use the "popularity" to increase their sites value or placement. This means they might try to sell the name for a profit at a future point, or use the domain to house things that otherwise would be pulled offline while trying to gain the same level of popularity (Warez, pirated stuff, kid porn etc)

    I would definitely suggest blacklisting such domains and avoiding them.
     
    Bells likes this.
  17. ZMacZ Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    123
    Anyone else missing lots of stuff ?
     
  18. sweetpea Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    1,329
  19. Confused2 Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    609
    Have the scam sites gained access to the database?
    A note from my host...

    Check the incoming Port for MySQL, If its 3306, then close it. If this port is left open it can pose both a security and server abuse threat since not only can hackers attempt to break into MySQL, any user can host their SQL database on your server and access it from another host and so use Or abuse your server resources.
     
  20. kx000 Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    5,136
    Proof of the Nihilistic negaverse.
     
  21. rpenner Fully Wired Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    4,833
    It is much more likely that the other server is a caching proxy designed to inject the pages it gives you with ads or malware than it having a database copy.
     

Share This Page