Hello dear WordPress bloggers,
We’ve become aware of a scam involving an ‘advertising agency’ that wants to put banner ads on your site.
Here’s how it works: You are sent a nice email, personalized from a real person, with phone number. The site looks legit (not very nice, but legit). Once ‘approved’, you are sent a login to their site. You download the plugin, “adv.zip” and upload to your site. You can then place banner ads on your site.
From our research it has gone by the following names so far:
- bevestoagency.com
- ritaagency.com
- Izidaagency.com
- gelbertagency.com
- pakbbagency.com
- Jinaagency.com
- markaagency.com
- karaagency.com
- kervelagency.com
- lego-agency.com
- Lana Agency / LanaAgency
- legretto.com
- Leggeto Agency.
- Rebretto Agency
The acceptance email looks like:
Dangers & Risks
It seems no one is sure what exactly the banner ad plugin does, but one thing is for sure -no one is getting any money from this ‘agency’. Installing plugins ads code directly to your site. So there is always a risk when installing plugins or themes. Thats why it is so important to get them from reputable sources. The code has been scoured by many people with no one finding anything malicious except for another user added to the site. Of course that is dangerous because then anyone with that username/password can change the site in any way they want.
What to do
Right now, it is enough to de-active & delete the plugin. And then go through your site’s users and delete any unknowns. We will update the blog if anything comes of this threat. Sign up here to our feed or get the emails instead.
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Sources:
http://www.warriorforum.com/main-internet-marketing-discussion-forum/509224-advertising-scam-important.html
http://www.atpeaz.com/index.php/2011/wordpress-blogs-targeted-scam-beware-of-the-adv-zip-plugin/comment-page-1/?print=1
http://mephistos.com/2011/08/04/devious-scam-aimed-at-bloggers/comment-page-1/#comment-3641
http://www.sleeandtopher.com/2011/12/warning-bloggers-beware-of-blog-banner-ad-scam-with-adv-plugin/
I’m glad I googled and found your post. I almost got swindled by the lego-angency.com. The emails they sent were perfect copies (except for my unique login details) of the pictures you posted.
What I hate more than being cheated is getting my hopes up…and they certainly did that.
I’m so sorry Cody, that is definitely disappointing!
~Cathy
Don’t worry Cody. It is only natural that you got your hopes up. It happens to everyone in that situation. Just remember, there is no free money anywhere unless you find it on the floor. Even then, I always try to find an owner. But the money you earn will never be taken away.
I was contacted by “Sacha Charles” at “Lana Agency” regarding this exact same scam yesterday. We pitched some prices back and forth via email while I tried to investigate them (and found a shocking ZERO results when Googling for their “Ad Agency”, which raised my eye brows). Thankfully I found your article BEFORE I got scammed by these folks. THANK YOU!
Again, it was: “Sacha Charles” @ “Lana Agency” (www.lanaagency.com)
Please add this identity to your article?
Thank you Jeremy! Its added.
I was contacted by Tristan Muller at the Gana Agency. Went so far as to install the plugin but balked at activating it and started googling. Thanks for your post!
Thanks for letting us know, Wendy!
I was contacted by Noah Vincent, who made the same claims:
Noah Vincent
site: http://www.legretto.com
e-mail:
phone: + (0)9 78 62 60 53
Thank you. I’ll add this to the post!
Hi there – in the interests of making this scam easier to find on google, just letting you know I was approached by William Joly of Leggeto Agency..
Thank you! Added to the post.
Got this from legretto. com
I did a search before messing with any plugin and found your blog along with others warning of the scam…
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To pass to the banner control system follow the link http://webmaster .legretto. com
To enter use the following data:
login: website. com
password: 1VKMM2CN
You should install and activate the plugin in order to display advertisement. Before making payment, advertiser must approve location of the banner. The banner will be shown on your site when you add special code to your web- address (for example: http://website.com /?adv_test=1). It means, that visitors will see the banner only if it is approved and payment made.
To get installation instruction for your site type pass to: http://docs. legretto.com/ wp_install
To activate your site you have to enter the code: IFW-P3W-BUA
What way of payment is suitable for you?
Best regards,
Noah Vincent.
site: www. legretto. com
e-mail: nvincent @legretto. com
phone: + (0)9 78 62 60 53
I edited your post to remove the links. (they dont deserve links back! ) Thanks for updating us.
I got one from Neil Vincent at Legretto. I know you already have that added, but I just wanted to post a thank you for providing this information. I’m very disappointed in this, not because I almost got scammed, but because I thought I finally caught a break, and was going to actually make some money with my site.
Too bad
Hi Steve,
That is disappointing. Try reading the interviews that I’ve posted of my most successful clients. Perhaps there’s some tips in there for someone in your situation? To your success,
Cathy
So glad I found this! I was contacted by Noah Vincent as well with the exact email you showed above. Almost went through it with too, but not now. I’ll just keep plugging away since it’s more of a passion anyway.
Luckily I am a skeptical person and my site is not that big. So when they asked for a price quote I gave them a VERY large number. Laughably large. They of course agreed to the price. Anyway…here is latest contact info of the criminals..
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Best regards,
Samuel Charles.
site: www. guraci. com
e-mail: scharles@ guraci.com
phone: + (0)9 78 62 73 96
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Glad your site is here!
Now who wants to buy a banner on my site which gets at least 40! unique visitors a day for the low LOW price of $1000 per month?
The common sense test! I haven’t heard of that before. LOL
Yup, I got hit up as well, but by an agency name that I wasn’t able to research via Googling.
Here is the contact info so other people can find it:
Thibaut Jean.
site: http://www.rebretto.com
e-mail:
phone: + (0)9 78 62 47 93
Thanks for this post! I’ve never been so close to believing a scam!
Added Rebretto to our list of weird agencies. Thanks for the update!
Bizotto agency is the name they go with now!