Questions regarding awards and hacked sites

[Progger]

Congrats

But i see a lot of fraud and scam on the list...this voting is a Joke...

regards

[gaffg]

Would you mind pointing out the fraud and scam you feel is on the list? If you want to have a discussion about this I'd recommend starting a new thread rather than trying to discredit the awards themselves.

Congrats

But i see a lot of fraud and scam on the list...this voting is a Joke...

regards

[Progger]

you talk about "trust" ...really ? Please leave this market delte your page and never open a award thread again.

Thanks!

[iGamingWriter]

you talk about "trust" ...really ? Please leave this market delte your page and never open a award thread again.

Thanks!

Once again we have Progger engaged in what can only be classified as Trollish behaviour.

But more interestingly I think Progger has some explaining of their own to do.

Last week I received a Google Alert in my inbox for the term 'thepogg' linking to this site (at the following urls you'll find a screen shot of the Google Alert and the site in question):

Google Alert

Offending site

The site above clearly shows all the hallmarks of a hacked sites but that's not what I find most interesting.

An acquantance happened to spot that the xSlots.org site in Progger's signature has an identical design to that of the hacked site that Google Alerts picked up stealing my content (this has happened a second time with more blatant content theft and exactly the same design again, but that one's been taken down already):

xSlots

If that'd been the end of it I'd have just forgotten about this and assumed that poor old Progger had had their web design stolen on top of everything else (though I would have had a good old chuckle to myself about Progger's repeated attempts to bad mouth any type of trust seal/award while using 3 of the most generic trust seals going on their own page), but there's something else that's really odd.

When I first came across that hacked page I noticed Affiliate Edge on there, contacted Martyn B and they closed the account immediately (thanks Martyn!). What's interesting to me about Progger's xSlots site is that I've clicked through on every link on the site (once for each brand) and other than the French page where all the links regardless of what operator they show go through to Conan casino venues (most responsible affiliates would know what bad news this group are, but I'll post a link to a warning I issued just a couple of days ago about them - AffPower Warning) they all go to the right operators. Except for one. Lucky Red, the only Affiliate Edge brand listed on the xSlots site redirects to Prestige casino. I've taken a quick screen capture video in case this changes over the next while, so if anyone wants a look they're welcome to it.

Obviously this isn't hard evidence, but it appears pretty sketchy to me that hacked sites are now turning up with EXACTLY the same design as Progger uses on xSlots and the one program I alerted about the issue and who closed the hackers account also doesn't go to the right place on xSlots.

It's also worth noting that this isn't a case of xSlots being hacked, as all the links redirect through the other site listed in Progger's signature link Fun-Automat.

Anyway, I guess that it would have been enough to simply flag the post as trolling with maybe a couple of pointers at the funny seals and dodgy programs promoted by Progger, but I thought other forum members might find the other information uncovered as interesting as I did. I'm sure there will be a perfectly mundane explanation.....

TP

[-Shay-]

Explanation?

[iGamingWriter]

Explanation?

I don't think we'll be getting a response to this. Given that Progger's off posting in other threads it'd be my guess that they figure on just ignoring this.

If I'm honest about it I'm a little disappointed with the response of the GPWA team here. Even ignoring the clear implications made above regarding involvement in hacking it seems to me that the posts made by this individual in this thread (and others) wouldn't be considered acceptable on most forums. I've seen this person making posts with no value other than to antagonise other members on multiple occasions now and the last post made above was just flat out offensive. Doesn't seem conducive to a healthy forum community. Maybe the mods just haven't read the specific posts I'm talking about.

Anyway, have a good New Year everyone.

TP

[gaffg]

you talk about "trust" ...really ? Please leave this market delte your page and never open a award thread again.

Thanks!

So this user calls the Gaffg awards a fraud, won't explain their reasoning so this is really attacking another member which seems to be common. One would hope GPWA would do something about this type of behaviour. Even more concerning are the issues brought up by thepogg. Seems an odd coincidence of one hacked site having their affiliateedge account closed (Affiliate Edge by the way won a Trusted Affiliate Manager & Trusted Affiliate Program award) and seeing a hacked site redirect their lucky red link while xslots.org does the same. Clearly they don't want to answer to these questions and comments as they are posting in other threads as if nothing has happened.

[gaffg]

Anybody can question the awards but what's happening here isn't questioning really, it's insulting and just being trollish behaviour. The awards have been questioned at affiliateguarddog.com in the past but there were not insults nor accusations of fraud which is a fairly harsh statement. When asked for their comments and feedback of why they think the awards are a fraud, their comments were just more insults.

"you talk about "trust" ...really ? Please leave this market delte your page and never open a award thread again.

Thanks!"

Maybe the reason is their affiliateedge account got closed?

At the end of the day, not the first person to be allowed to post insulting comments on here and get away with it.

[iGamingWriter]

I think my previous comment regarding GPWA was a little on the harsh side and as such I'm offering a public apology for it.

Putting aside the hacking issues completely, while I do think this type of posting with the sole intent of antagonising other users should be at least reprimanded, it's unfair to expect GPWA to read every post. I didn't hit the 'report' button on any of the posts in this thread and if others did I'm not aware of it.

In my opinion the first trollish post should probably have been removed, but I doubt the moderation team were even aware of this post before the conversation had escalated significantly. Removing the posts at that point would have just confused the situation.

TP

[-Shay-]

I think my previous comment regarding GPWA was a little on the harsh side and as such I'm offering a public apology for it.

Putting aside the hacking issues completely, while I do think this type of posting with the sole intent of antagonising other users should be at least reprimanded, it's unfair to expect GPWA to read every post. I didn't hit the 'report' button on any of the posts in this thread and if others did I'm not aware of it.

In my opinion the first trollish post should probably have been removed, but I doubt the moderation team were even aware of this post before the conversation had escalated significantly. Removing the posts at that point would have just confused the situation.

TP

Probably most appropriate for mods to make a new thread starting with the troll post. But I am EXTREMELY interested in hearing the other side of the hacked issue being explained off. I KNOW a lot of us have been directly and indirectly impacted by that exact issue and while I am not one to jump to immediate conclusions, it certainly seems as if there is "smoke"...

[universal4]

First I would also like to post an apology, as my actions behind the scenes were taken wrong and I should have been more proactive and kept others more informed to make sure those involved knew this was not being ignored.

I agree that people should be free to question awards, but to throw accusations of scam or fraud is taking this a bit far especially when it is a set of awards that have stood the test of time.

Like has been stated the situation seemed to escalate over a holiday period, hence why we chose to move the appropriate portions to the private member section so they could be discussed.

Since there are a number of public members involved in the discussion, we may have to move the thread into an area where they may also participate.

Rick
Universal4

[universal4]

I have been doing some html research, none of the following is proof of anything but is preliminary research

as of 01-04-16
http://xslots.org/

The image source
http://xslots.org/img/brands/mummys-gold_min.jpg
http://xslots.org/img/brands/gamingclub_min.jpg
http://xslots.org/img/brands/riverbelle_min.jpg
http://xslots.org/img/brands/spinpalace_min.jpg
http://xslots.org/img/brands/luckynugget_min.jpg

The star rating image source
http://xslots.org/templates/casino-21482/img/rait-1.png

=============================================

as of 01-04-16 (2 properties promoted)
http://shodtech.net/windsor-casino-n...rs-eve-events/

The image source
http://online-casinos-top.com/img/br...casino_min.jpg
http://online-casinos-top.com/img/br...-slots_min.jpg

The star rating image source
http://online-casinos-top.com/templa...img/rait-1.png


This site has been seen previously as having connections to the website hacks and many will be familiar with the design
http://online-casinos-top.com/

==============================================
Both sites have the tickerasisst in the head statement from https://www.tickerassist.co.uk

==============================================
Both sites use the same named theme and call the language flags the same
<a href="/?lang=en"><img src="/templates/casino-21482/img/flag/Euro-flag.png"></a>
<a href="/?lang=us"><img src="/templates/casino-21482/img/flag/United-states-flag.png"></a>

==============================================
Some of the classes in button calls are named the same
<a target="_blank" onclick="return false;" href="javascript:void(0);" rel="nofollow" class="orange">
==============================================

We can assume most pieces of the puzzle concerning the domain shodtech.net to be inconsequential as the appearance is that the domain is likely hacked without knowledge of the domain owners/developers.

Looking at the other domains that have been brought into the discussion:
There is no appearance of connections by way of dns, although the geographic locations of ip space place them in near locations in the Netherlands.


Again I will state that none of the above is proof of anything but is preliminary research and will save others a little legwork.


Rick
Universal4

[universal4]

I apologize if anyone saw my previous post that may have disappeared, post #12, after it is reviewed for accuracy it will once again be approved.

Rick
Universal4

[iGamingWriter]

I want to know more about Progger that you accused of being a hacker.

On that much we very much agree - Progger what can you tell us?

[universal4]

Sorry about not following up on Tuesday, I had done some digging on Monday and provided some of that in a post that Anthony was going to look over (it is actually #12 in this thread unapproved until we can verify accuracy) and I was distracted on Tuesday and did not have a chance to get back with Anthony as we had plans to discuss the issue.

Monday afternoon we had also briefly discussed moving the thread back to the public realm since a few of the members mentioned are public members.

When it concerns Membership status itself, if he was a Private Member and if it came to a vote, that would take place in the Private member section. Since he is a Public Member, we would certainly let members know of any decisions, which could be discussed in the private section if needed.

I will try and get in touch with Anthony early on Wednesday, although I am just ending my Tuesday in the am.

Rick
Universal4

[universal4]

I do see this as a few issues. Yes people are allowed to question awards, polls, terms, actions, etc etc the list can go on a while.

However, the way in which someone poses those questions, and makes accusations which are not based in fact, and to accuse people of creating a fraud or accusing them of being a scam, especially when some of the awards where accusations of scam were used is a little more than stating an opinion that the person thought the awards had little value in their opinion.

Often the awards that were questioned (this was not the first time) were awards that are sometimes voted on by hundreds or more people.

I do not know what selection process GAFFG uses, and I recall seeing at least one group that I did not think was award winning, but that does not mean that the process is a scam, so those kinds of harmful statements should not be thrown around so freely.

In addition, the general antagonistic method of approach that has become much more prominent in his posts has also been called into question. A few sponsors have made some private comments about these same things.

Both Antony and myself have on a few occasions have had to moderate certain words in his posts for being borderline offensive. (this was discussed with him privately)

In one thread recently he suggested that a member use a DDOS attack against someone. Sorry, but to suggest someone should use an illegal tactic against another is just wrong, and there is not a single person here that would want either their server or their isp to be under a ddos attack, no matter what kind of other business related dispute was on the table.

Now the hacking thing.

ThePogg was pretty careful with what he laid out in the original thread. In fact he did NOT outright accuse him, but did seek an explanation of what he discovered.

I have since done a small bit of digging and I have a few questions I would like to see answered.

I also know that Progger himself has stated he uses black hat to increase his traffic. (that statement in and of itself is not completely damning since the term blackhat is a little subjective and can mean many things, but I do think it fits within some of the overall patterns)


I was a little hesitant to post some of what I did because I do not want to simply post the bad and sway opinion or convince others to gang up on him, but I tried to disclose what we know so far and was trying not to be harsh although I know much of what I have posted is negative however I was sorta tasked with digging up the negative to see where it all led.

Rick
Universal4

[iGamingWriter]

Not sure where to post this just now but this is a nice article on the topic of the hacking - http://www.gamblinginvest.com/websit...888-affiliate/

[universal4]

I have temporarily closed this thread, as this one will become the public thread and will be moved back up top and then re-opened for comments.

As Anthony and I were working on this thread, he had temporarily deleted some posts as we prepared to move the thread back into the public realm so we could determine that those posts that private members wanted to stay private were in fact taken care of, and we also wanted to try and make sure the integrity and continuity of the thread stayed intact.

I have removed the posts as per requested by a few private members and un-deleted the posts in the thread that will stay private.

If anyone has made a post in the private section that was removed, but want you thoughts posted in the public version of the thread, you may either copy and paste it into a new post, since all posts were preserved in the private thread.

We expect to make this thread public on Friday throughout the day.

We ask anyone posting in this thread to keep in mind that nothing posted so far is definitive proof of wrongdoing but observations have been made that we felt it was important to post what we knew so far.

We ask everyone to try and keep this professional and refrain from any personal attacks.

Rick
Universal4

[-Shay-]

Thank you for bringing this back to the public venue.

[falseadoom]

Once again we have Progger engaged in what can only be classified as Trollish behaviour.

The site above clearly shows all the hallmarks of a hacked sites but that's not what I find most interesting.

An acquantance happened to spot that the xSlots.org site in Progger's signature has an identical design to that of the hacked site that Google Alerts picked up stealing my content (this has happened a second time with more blatant content theft and exactly the same design again, but that one's been taken down already):

TP

Sure looks the same to me as many hacked site, just different affiliate id's