.TK is quickly becoming a case study in what happens when you give domains away for free. The most prevalent scam now seems to be installing scripts that redirect users through a list of sites. Wherever the user lands, it’s a scam.
“Scammers are utilizing free .TK domains to redirect users from hacked sites to fake blogs created for the sole purpose of displaying advertisements or tech support scams.
This scheme works by attackers compromising web sites and installing scripts that redirect visitors through a series of sites. At the end of this redirect chain will either be a tech support scam stating that the computer is infected with the Zeus virus or a fake blog site that display popups ads that cannot be closed.” (Source – BleepingComputer.com)
While you or I might not fall for scams like these, people do every day, and with an estimated 72 sites in this specific scam, each making around $300/month – the scammers are racking up quite a bit of revenue.
“Based on their research, each site is earning an average of $300 per month. When you combine that with the 72 known active .TK domains, that would bring in over 21k.” (Source – BleepingComputer.com)
So next time you feel like you might have landed on a different site than you expected, take a look at the URL, if it ends in .TK, hit the back button. Have you ever encountered one of these .TK scams?
