AdSense Spammer #6

Here is a spammer that created 407 splogs with AdSense ads. Either he is trying to sell ringtones or trying to crash your browser with sheer number of links on a page. Actually it turns out he isn't trying to sell anything. Many of his links point to yet another page with even more links with no content but AdSense ads. An example of such a painful page is here.

pub-8982350429923345.txt - 409 splogs (15,470 bytes)

AdSense Spammer #5

Here is yet another AdSense spammer that create 791 splogs. This one is bit different in that most of the splogs he created has Google search box in them. Some of them do have your average AdSense ads as well as links pointing to his made for AdSense script generated web site. I'm going to begin posting the complete list of splogs via Google Pages. They allow 100MB space which is adequate for this purpose. I'll be doing the same for past AdSense spammers I've posted here.

pub-1419806640171564.txt - 791 splogs (23,001 bytes)

UPDATE (4/4/2006 7:30am) - This AdSense spammer's account is still active. Here is his made for AdSense site. It looks like Google deleted the splogs but left his AdSense account intact.

AdSense Spammer #4

Here is an AdSense spammer that created 84 spam blogs with AdSense ads on them as well as links pointing to his website also with AdSense ads. Here are 84 splogs he created:

bankersbox-survey-mnlo.blogspot.com
best-blogspot-paid-site-survey-ydyf.blogspot.com
bloglinesnews.blogspot.com
bottledwatercooler.blogspot.com
bqhdobis.blogspot.com
bulletin-myspace-survey-ogio.blogspot.com
business-online-tips.blogspot.com
businessopportunitylead.blogspot.com
career-interest-survey-ceqr.blogspot.com
ccvhcgrl.blogspot.com
circuitcity-survey-jnko.blogspot.com
cleanwatersystem.blogspot.com
customer-survey-theo.blogspot.com
customer-survey-wlnk.blogspot.com
dottie-weight-loss-zone-slmo.blogspot.com
dotties-weight-loss-zone-gaqk.blogspot.com
drinkingwatersystem.blogspot.com
earnresidualincome.blogspot.com
eqnptjeuwc.blogspot.com
extraincomeopportunity.blogspot.com
franchisebusinessopportunity.blogspot.com
free-online-paid-survey-tokh.blogspot.com
free-salary-survey-sccd.blogspot.com
freeonlinepaidsurvey.blogspot.com
friend-survey-yezx.blogspot.com
fun-personal-survey-xshs.blogspot.com
fun-survey-question-qhfn.blogspot.com
fun-survey-ufdp.blogspot.com
fun-survey-ywbe.blogspot.com
funny-survey-breb.blogspot.com
gaining-weight-lmlz.blogspot.com
geological-survey-jrvt.blogspot.com
get-paid-for-online-survey-puyn.blogspot.com
get-paid-to-take-survey-ulov.blogspot.com
getpaidonlinesurvey.blogspot.com
getpaidtotakesurvey.blogspot.com
highestpaidsurvey.blogspot.com
home-business-opportunity.blogspot.com
home-interior-design-idea.blogspot.com
homebasedbusinessopportunitytips.blogspot.com
homebusinessopportunityonline.blogspot.com
household-survey-bls-hvse.blogspot.com
household-survey-bls-zzvp.blogspot.com
howtogetrichquick.blogspot.com
internet-dating-service-lurs.blogspot.com
internet-survey-ktdk.blogspot.com
internetbusinessonline.blogspot.com
internetbusinessopportunitytips.blogspot.com
kohls-survey-vokv.blogspot.com
lose-weight-fast-hwow.blogspot.com
makingmoneyopportunity.blogspot.com
market-survey-jupd.blogspot.com
mlmbusinessopportunity.blogspot.com
multimilliondollar.blogspot.com
natural-weight-loss-abce.blogspot.com
online-survey-top-lgbj.blogspot.com
onlinebusinessopportunitytips.blogspot.com
opinion-survey-gidr.blogspot.com
paid-survey-online.blogspot.com
paidsurveysite.blogspot.com
purewatersystem.blogspot.com
purifier-water.blogspot.com
question-space-survey-ldjd.blogspot.com
quick-weight-loss-fgco.blogspot.com
smallbusinessopportunity.blogspot.com
survey-monkey-yuui.blogspot.com
survey-research-xqsf.blogspot.com
survey-software-kezm.blogspot.com
teen-survey-nqck.blogspot.com
united-state-geological-survey-dxfp.blogspot.com
united-state-geological-survey-zysx.blogspot.com
watercoolerdispenser.blogspot.com
waterdispenser.blogspot.com
waterfiltersystem.blogspot.com
waterpurificationsystem.blogspot.com
waterpurifiersystem.blogspot.com
watertreatmentsystem.blogspot.com
weight-lifting-supplement-unpt.blogspot.com
weight-loss-diet.blogspot.com
weight-loss-diet-wdhv.blogspot.com
weight-loss-surgery-vbxm.blogspot.com
work-from-home-jobs.blogspot.com
workathomebusinessopportunitytips.blogspot.com
zagat-survey-xehn.blogspot.com

I'm very much interested in what Google will do this time. It seems like yesterday Google has chosen to ignore their own AdSense policy by not banning the AdSense account of the splog's target page AdSense account. Yesterday's precedence leads to some unforseen inconsistencies in their policy enforcement. Here are two possiblities:

1. Google chooses to not ban this AdSense account - This creates a rather odd loophole in their AdSense policy. If spammers were to create whole bunch of splogs with AdSense ads, they will get banned immediately as we've seen before. However for some reason if they create bunch of AdSense splogs but with links pointing to an external site with AdSense ads from same account, then they are immune from being banned. How bizarre is that?

2. Google chooses to ban this AdSense account - This creates a different kind of inconsistancy in enforcement of their policy. Spammer's from yesterday get to keep his own AdSense account active and is free to go on about his spamming while this spammer's AdSense account is no more. Two spammers have done pretty much the same thing yet the punishment is very different. It ends up being a selective enforcement of their policy and that can have legal consequences. This can also encourage spammers to create multiple AdSense account using family member's name to minimize their risk of being banned. I've already seen some spammers with multiple AdSense accounts so I guess this is nothing new.


UPDATE (2/28/2006 11:10pm) - I've underestimated the number of splogs this spammer created. I was looking at the incremental splog count instead of full splog count by this spammer. The full list as follows:

pub-9849357508343919.txt - 543 splogs (18,437 bytes)

UPDATE (4/4/2006 8:00am) - Google has effectively swept this AdSense spammer under the rug. His splogs are gone but his account remains. This page still has his AdSense ad meaning only his splogs are gone but his account is still active and he probably gets to keep any money earned from spamming. Obviously he is still free to spam as he pleases and Google has knowlingly allowed this to go on.

AdSense Spammer #3

Here is yet another AdSense spammer who created over 1300 splogs in Blogger. This spammer's splog has a similar look and feel as the yesterday's spammer so he could be using a same tool to create his splogs or maybe even a same individual. His splog "content" are all from RSS feeds or scraped from other news sites including images. Here are some samples:

4512318.blogspot.com
4522170.blogspot.com
4523210.blogspot.com
4528849.blogspot.com
4532544.blogspot.com
4534967.blogspot.com
4538837.blogspot.com
454641.blogspot.com
4556320.blogspot.com
4557724.blogspot.com
4583310.blogspot.com
4583674.blogspot.com
4592123.blogspot.com
4596544.blogspot.com
4596587.blogspot.com
4599987.blogspot.com
ad11587.blogspot.com
ad17515.blogspot.com
ad18749.blogspot.com
ad3232.blogspot.com
ad3378.blogspot.com
ad35491.blogspot.com
ad3563.blogspot.com
ad36633.blogspot.com
ad36944.blogspot.com
ad3947.blogspot.com
ad39475.blogspot.com
ad41106.blogspot.com
ad5342.blogspot.com
ad53819.blogspot.com
ad62411.blogspot.com
ad66780.blogspot.com
ad69924.blogspot.com
ad75954.blogspot.com
ad79378.blogspot.com
ad81302.blogspot.com
ad84795.blogspot.com
ad90869.blogspot.com
ad94247.blogspot.com
ad95019.blogspot.com
asd412705.blogspot.com
asd412814.blogspot.com
asd413500.blogspot.com
asd415078.blogspot.com
asd415698.blogspot.com
asd417003.blogspot.com
asd41910.blogspot.com
asd421594.blogspot.com
asd425378.blogspot.com
asd425731.blogspot.com

Although the splogs above are mostly RSS feed based splogs he does have some splog like below as well as countless others that are what I'd classify as link splogs. They contain links to his own "made for AdSense" website to both draw traffic and to manipulate Google search results. He even uses a different AdSense account for his target sites. The AdSense ID on 1300+ splogs is pub-6546712460553017 and AdSense ID on his target page is pub-0720858052241313.

ad3232.blogspot.com
ad3563.blogspot.com
ad79378.blogspot.com
k15734.blogspot.com
k36357.blogspot.com
k51477.blogspot.com
k52008.blogspot.com
k72150.blogspot.com
k90978.blogspot.com
n67490.blogspot.com
oijk1477.blogspot.com
oijk25937.blogspot.com
r46032.blogspot.com
r53765.blogspot.com
r774.blogspot.com
r81543.blogspot.com

I think this AdSense spammer is sort of a litmus test going forward. Google was very quick to send a clear message that creating thousands of splogs with AdSense ads is not something that's tolerated. However I do wonder if Google is equally quick to ban AdSense account of his target webpage. Another words, will Google ban just one AdSense account or both? Here is a quote directly from the AdSense policy: "Do not participate in link schemes designed to increase your site's ranking or PageRank." Is creating hundreds or thousands of splogs be considered link scheme designed to increase site's ranking? I'm not an expert in how search engine works but I would think it is or at least an effort to manipulate search results. Here is another direct quote from AdSense policy: "In addition, publishers may not bring unnatural attention to sites displaying ads or referral buttons through unsolicited mass emails or unwanted advertisements on third-party websites." I think creating hundreds of blogs with links is indeed an unwanted advertisements on third-party websites to bring unnatural attention to a page. I'd say that's pretty clear violation of AdSense policy. I wonder if Google enforce this policy as currently stated. I sure hope I'm just preaching to the choir.

UPDATE (2/24/06 12:28am): Google has spoken. Google was quick to ban the AdSense account used for creating splogs however not for his own website the splogs were targetting. This essentially gives spammers a green light to create many splogs as they wish as long as the splog itself doesn't contain the AdSense ad. This begs the question of what Google would do if a same AdSense account was used for both the splogs and the target website. In fact I have a spammer that did just that.

UPDATE (2/28/2006 11:14pm) - I've underestimated the number of splogs this spammer created. I was looking at the incremental splog count instead of full splog count by this spammer. The full list as follows:

pub-6546712460553017.txt - 1554 splogs (32,085 bytes)

AdSense Spammer #2

This one spammer has created more than 5900 splogs in Blogger. All of splogs have multiple AdSense ads and a Google search. They are nothing more than an RSS feed dumped into Blogger with absolutely no original content. Here are the first twenty splogs as a sample.

110155.blogspot.com
110170.blogspot.com
110417.blogspot.com
110501.blogspot.com
110688.blogspot.com
110699.blogspot.com
111054.blogspot.com
111095.blogspot.com
111302.blogspot.com
11135.blogspot.com
111551.blogspot.com
111731.blogspot.com
111837.blogspot.com
112144.blogspot.com
112420.blogspot.com
112422.blogspot.com
112562.blogspot.com
112718.blogspot.com
112772.blogspot.com
112794.blogspot.com

UPDATE (2/22/06 7:10pm): Google does it again! This spammer's AdSense account is toast. I'll keep posting AdSense spammers and hopefully Google keeps doing what they do. I have couple more hard core AdSense spammers as well as this one truely "pro" spammer with nearly 900 domains registered to his name supported by multiple AdSense accounts. That one is going to take some effort to dissect.

UPDATE (2/28/2006 11:19pm) - Here is the complete list of 5905 splogs.

pub-7250171464453961.txt 5905 splogs (120,911 bytes)

AdSense Spammer

I found this one egregious spammer who created over 3000 splogs with nothing but an AdSense ad. Here are the first twenty just as a sample.

02wmvbbfreemovieru21d.blogspot.com
03wmvbbfreemovieta65r.blogspot.com
1002005bestmoviegi9s.blogspot.com
100bestbravohorrormoviela7k.blogspot.com
100besthorrormoviela82s.blogspot.com
100blogbookmovienewstopji33y.blogspot.com
100freemoviedownloadpi2h.blogspot.com
100freemovievo8r.blogspot.com
100homeequityloanlo37p.blogspot.com
100horrormovietopbo63g.blogspot.com
100movierentaltopni57k.blogspot.com
102005americabestfrommoviepo63n.blogspot.com
102005bestebertmovieroeperli41f.blogspot.com
102005bestmovietopbu24j.blogspot.com
102005bestmovievu100p.blogspot.com
102005boxmovieofficetoplu27m.blogspot.com
102005moviemovietopyahooba22b.blogspot.com
102005movietopworstta32b.blogspot.com
1031exchangefa87j.blogspot.com
10bestmovieof2005do55n.blogspot.com

Obviously this spammer is violationg both AdSense policy as well as the Blogger terms of service. I wonder if Google will simply delete these twenty splogs or will they actually do something about this spammer's AdSense account for change. The question is, what does a spammer have to do to get noticed by Google?

UPDATE (2/21/06 5:35pm): Yes! Google did the right thing and banned this spammer from AdSense. All the spologs have this white empty spot where AdSense ad used to be. One down and sixty two to go. I already found one other spammer that created even more splogs than this one. I'll be posting my findings later today and hopefully Google will do the same to him as well.

UPDATE (2/28/2006 11:24pm) - I've underestimated the number of splogs this spammer created. I was looking at the incremental splog count instead of full splog count by this spammer. The full list as follows:

pub-1775245184601633.txt - 3997 splogs (140,927 bytes)

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

It's been a while since I posted so here is an update on what's happening behind the scenes. I've been busy with splog fighting in many fronts but mostly analysis of collected data. So far my blog archive has grown to 1.3 million blog. My newly purchased 300 GB hard drive is about half full at the moment. My analysis script has identified about 275,000 blogs as splogs. The script currently identifies about 50% of new blogs created daily as splogs. I expect this percentage to eventually rise to about 70% when I implement two more layers of filtering. So far I've made pretty good progress at identifying splogs though mostly automated means.

There are couple things spammers are doing to makes their splogs tricky to detect. More and more I'm seeing hidden text and links in splog masked via CSS. Also I've noticed that some splogs that are completely disguised as a normal looking blog when seen through the browser yet when looking at the source it has a very different motives. Then again I've seen other splogs doing completely the opposite. The content of the splog is innocuous but the whole page has been overwritten by a JavaScript turning the blog into a splog. These spammers are getting much more sophisticated to allude detection. Currently I'm making efforts to counteract these anti-detection measure.

As expected splog situation is constantly in flux. Up till about a month ago majority of splogs being created were gambling and porn related. Now all of a sudden there is a huge surge in splogs funded by AdSense. To make matters worse Google has pretty much stopped shutting down spammer's AdSense account no matter what they do. I'm suddenly seeing thousands of splogs pointing to an AdSense plastered webpage with little or no real content. I'm starting to see some really heavyweight well funded spammers entering the splog fray. Few days ago I've identified one splogger who registered about 900 .com domains for the sole purpose of creating splogs funded by AdSense. When I report these situations to Google AdSense, the splogs gets deleted eventually but for some unknown reason Google doesn't do anything about the blatent AdSense policy violation. Google is simply looking the other way. I wonder if this has to do with Google not meeting the last quarterly wall street expectations. I'm beginning to seriously doubt whether Google is still sticking to it's corporate philosophy of "Do No Evil".