Crafty scam - A whole fake forum!

[OwlHoot]

I was searching for an obscure ebook, when as luck would have it (so I thought) I came across a forum thread that discussed that very book!

caffeine
Jack
Member
Join Date: Aug 2014, Posts: 48

#1
January 28, 2021 02:00 PM
Hey there! Anglo-Norman antiquities considered : in a tour through part of Normandy, by Doctor Ducarel, 1767. Illustrated with twenty-seven copper-plates. searched all the web couldn't find anywhere.

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yurikuzn
Harry
Senior Member
Join Date: Mar 2014
Posts: 3090

#2
January 28, 2021 02:34 PM
Here is the link, was searching for this myself for a long time, found only on this fileshare.

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caffeine
Jack
Member
Join Date: Aug 2014, Posts: 48

#3
January 28, 2021 02:39 PM
But it requires CC.

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Makov
Oscar
Junior Member
Join Date: Jun 2016
Posts: 19

#4
January 29, 2021 11:58 AM
Yes, just fill it in, its trusted site.

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yurikuzn
Jack
Senior Member
Join Date: caffeine
Posts: 48

#5
January 29, 2021 01:25 PM
Thanks, the CC is just to make sure you aren't a bot.

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Makov
Sofia
Junior Member
Join Date: Jun 2016
Posts: 140

#6
January 30, 2021 08:24 PM
Thanks guys, looked for this long time too.

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Makov
William
Junior Member
Join Date: Jun 2016
Posts: 158

#7
January 30, 2021 10:46 PM
Oh man, that's great, thank, solid website, entered CC and just got what I needed.

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yurikuzn
Admin
Admin
Join Date: Mar 2012
Posts: 3090


#8
January 30, 2021 11:19 AM

Topic is closed.

It was a really slick looking forum page. But look at those datetimes - I was searching today, 2021-01-31, and the above "discussion" has a regular sequence of datetimes starting only a couple of days ago! What are the chances two or three people would all be keenly interested in some old book like the one I was looking for and would all reply within a day or two?

So someone has created a whole fake bulletin board discussion generator to lure unsuspecting ebook searchers to hand out their credit card details.

(Clicking on the user names and similar popped up a message saying "site under maintenance".)

Also, I just noticed the datetime the Admin closed the thread precedes that of the previous comment (unless I made mistake copying and pasting the posts - Can't be bothered to check now.)

[xoggoth]

Hey there! Anglo-Norman antiquities considered : in a tour through part of Normandy, by Doctor Ducarel, 1767. Illustrated with twenty-seven copper-plate

Probably lots of fake sites selling popular stuff but not sure I understand how a bot would come up with that header post or why it would be worth it. Your interest must be one in millions.

[MarillionFan]

Probably lots of fake sites selling popular stuff but not sure I understand how a bot would come up with that header post or why it would be worth it. Your interest must be one in millions.

Yeah. Conspiracy or co-incidence. I'd say co-incidence.

Try looking for Arse Ticklers and Faggots Fan Club by AtW and see if the same thing happens.

[FIERCE TANK BATTLE]

It's not a coincidence, I think they just make a generic page for every single book with a query parameter ?bookname=abc

They probably then have a master page with every single ISBN/book from some pilfered database of every book in existence.

Then they just get google to index their site, google thinks oh this is a site with a list of every book ever made, indexes a link to page.html?bookname=python for dummies etc. etc.

You click the link on google, it generates a fake page based on the query parameter

et voila

That is my guess, unless they have some way of taking your google search query and feeding it in, which is also a possibility - sometimes you google something like 'specific model 33boobs plasma television' and you get an advert in the side bar like 'ebay buy and sell specific model 33boobs plasma television and many others items today!' and it links to an ebay search for what you typed in.

[OwlHoot]

Try looking for Arse Ticklers and Faggots Fan Club by AtW and see if the same thing happens.

Tried that, and this came up:

YouTube - Lock Stock - Arse Tickler's Faggots Fan Club

The only other result was a dodgy looking site called "Contractor UK". I'd steer well clear!

[xoggoth]

It's not a coincidence, I think they just make a generic page for every single book with a query parameter ?bookname=abc

You're probably right. "Anglo-Norman Antiquities considered in a tour through part of Normandy, by Doctor Ducarel" is the exact title, and it's on Amazon. Scouring the titles from the books section in Amazon and adding very generic comments probably isn't that hard.

[cojak]

I only use abebooks for this kind of thing, but this is why I use PayPal for most of my purchases, I just don’t trust small e-commerce companies.

[OwlHoot]

Probably right that 1st sentence, "Anglo-Norman Antiquities considered in a tour through part of Normandy, by Doctor Ducarel" is the exact title, and it's on Amazon.

FWIW, I found a free ebook copy in the end, without any "help" from Russian hackers who require credit card details!

Anglo-Norman antiquities considered, in a tour through part ... - Full View | HathiTrust Digital Library | HathiTrust Digital Library

[OwlHoot]

It's not a coincidence, I think they just make a generic page for every single book with a query parameter ?bookname=abc

They probably then have a master page with every single ISBN/book from some pilfered database of every book in existence.

Then they just get google to index their site, google thinks oh this is a site with a list of every book ever made, indexes a link to page.html?bookname=python for dummies etc. etc.

You click the link on google, it generates a fake page based on the query parameter

et voila

That is my guess, unless they have some way of taking your google search query and feeding it in, which is also a possibility - sometimes you google something like 'specific model 33boobs plasma television' and you get an advert in the side bar like 'ebay buy and sell specific model 33boobs plasma television and many others items today!' and it links to an ebay search for what you typed in.

I'm sure you're right, and they wouldn't even have to pinch a database because there are free online databases already, such as WorldCat.org: The World's Largest Library Catalog.

But from this example, I think their code must have checked Amazon (as xoggoth suggested) because I think that's the only site I found where the author is bizarrely referred to as "Doctor" Ducarel (which I never used in my Google search).

[vetran]

Yeah. Conspiracy or co-incidence. I'd say co-incidence.

Try looking for Arse Ticklers and Faggots Fan Club by AtW and see if the same thing happens.

is that the sequel to "Squirrels subduing and strapping" them?