[WARNING] Newbies, do not click links blindly.

[2double0]

When you go for shortcuts while in a bounty, you just blindly click a link to check a tweet/post made by a user to get some content for your tweet/post on Twitter/Facebook as such are those campaigns. Have you ever thought that if a user, who intentionally wants to infect your PC/phone with malware, will just add a different link inside the URL part and show you a different link here? My advice would be to first hover over any link you click on this forum or just tap and hold a link, tap on "Copy link address", paste it somewhere (but not address bar) and check the link. Only visit the link if it does belong to the website it is supposed to be.

[1715428498]

1715428498

[1715428498]

1715428498

[1715428498]

1715428498

[1715428498]

1715428498

[GreatArkansas]

Have you ever thought that if a user, who intentionally wants to infect your PC/phone with malware, will just add a different link inside the URL part and show you a different link here?

You mean, like this ? www.youtube.com
I put www.youtube.com but inside of it, is www.google.com.
Yeah, it really risky about that. Especially if you see that kind of post with some random members of the forum especially.

About this issue, if you are using mobile phones, you can also see the link once you long press the link and you will see the link you will visit, especially in Brave browser, google chrome browser (android). Not sure in any browsers or platforms on mobile.

[2double0]

Have you ever thought that if a user, who intentionally wants to infect your PC/phone with malware, will just add a different link inside the URL part and show you a different link here?

You mean, like this ? www.youtube.com
I put www.youtube.com but inside of it, is www.google.com.
Yeah, it really risky about that. Especially if you see that kind of post with some random members of the forum especially.

About this issue, if you are using mobile phones, you can also see the link once you long press the link and you will see the link you will visit, especially in Brave browser, google chrome browser (android). Not sure in any browsers or platforms on mobile.

Yeah, like that. Sometimes, a little bit of care can save your back from being stuck into a situation where you find yourself to be a victim because of your own silliness. We need to stay secure and for that, we should take care of these smallest issues which can do big loss to our finance as well as important data.

[Ferris419]

Whoever does airdrop and bounty regularly they get more than 20 mail every day from some random mail addresses! It's because bad people are busy to scam others when a newbie click on a phishing link, they can get wallet hack anytime! Recently one guy posted that someone gave him linked to facebook and he clicked to have a look and a bad thing happened. Always ignore those link givers people! Everyone should buy a hardware wallet before starting a career in bounty, so they can live a safe life from hackers! A hardware wallet is not much expensive! 70-130$ is not a big amount even for a newbie!

[bitsurfer2014]

Sometimes we cannot avoid doing these careless things and despite exerting our best efforts to avoid these types of pitfalls, it is human nature and very normal to commit mistakes!

But thankfully, there are awesome browser extensions like NoScript  that can  help safeguard us on these types of attacks so that if we accidentally click a malicious link, NoScript will give us an additional layer of security by blocking potentially malicious program from being executed and this is one of the most effective tool to avoid becoming a victim of clickjacking.

I think this browser extension is a must have tool for every security conscious individuals. Imho.

[Lafu]

Maybe check out this Thread also ! Can be helpful for new Users .

Guide and advice for new Users before you Download anything from the Forum !

There is also another way to know what link is hidden between the URL Bbcodes and it's very easy. When you are using computer and using a firefox browser for example. Let's just say I use firefox or chrome browsers and you saw a link that you think that there is a link behind it, just simply point the arrow at the link and see if there is a link that will be shown at the bottom just like this image.
Image Source: http://www.hyperlinkcode.com/images/hand-pointer-status-bar.gif

When using mobile device same procedure won't do/help you but there's still a way to avoid opening a hidden link. First, you have to tap the link until a pop-up will appear and select "COPY LINK" then paste it somewhere else like a Notepad for example.

Take Note: The mobile procedure in knowing the real url/link behind a hyperlink could also work in PC by copying the link and paste it in Notepad.

If you will find some Suspicious Links please report them to the Moderators and you can also write and make post in my other Thread here:

Report Malware and Suspicious Links here so Mods can take Action !

[Stedsm]

Watching this and many alike threads, it shows people do really care for each other here no matter where we come from. We always need to be cautious while clicking on links and even watching anything over the internet as sometimes, when you visit a website you're not intended to and during the time you check out the website just because it looks eye-catching, the website can fit a malware behind in order to be use the whole computing power of your PC and even smartphone and it starts mining through the same which is commonly known as cryptojacking. More info here - https://www.csoonline.com/article/3253572/what-is-cryptojacking-how-to-prevent-detect-and-recover-from-it.amp.html

You should always remain aware and active if you don't want to get messed up with shitty issues like these. Always be known to these things to keep your crypto safe forever.

[LbtalkL]

Yes we should check hyperlinks sometimes someone will abuse it and spread scam motives. But I dont think  a Member to Legendary rank will do something like this a bitcointalk account is more important unless its a dummy, newbie account or has negative trust. So we need to be careful in dealing with those accounts.

[jossiel]

Yeah right, it's a great reminder for the bounty hunters that never look at those links. I've seen some other kind of tricks that they do, they'll do this...

You mean, like this ? www.youtube.com
I put www.youtube.com but inside of it, is www.google.com.

And inside that link is a link shortner which will lead them to another website too for those curious members. IIRC, there's a way to check the right link for those shortners.

[jhenfelipe]

And inside that link is a link shortner which will lead them to another website too for those curious members. IIRC, there's a way to check the right link for those shortners.

If they are using a shortened link and want to be sure:

1. if bit.ly, you can easily check the full link by adding + after the shortened link and enter to the URL bar of your browser (Source) . Example: http://bit.ly/Wn2Xdz+

2. if tinyurl.com, you can add a preview. before the shortened link. Example: https://preview.tinyurl.com/stzyfha

3. Other web services you can use:

• http://checkshorturl.com/
• https://unshorten.it/

A friendly reminder - Always be cautious folks.

[jossiel]

And inside that link is a link shortner which will lead them to another website too for those curious members. IIRC, there's a way to check the right link for those shortners.

If they are using a shortened link and want to be sure:

1. if bit.ly, you can easily check the full link by adding + after the shortened link and enter to the URL bar of your browser (Source) . Example: http://bit.ly/Wn2Xdz+

2. if tinyurl.com, you can add a preview. before the shortened link. Example: https://preview.tinyurl.com/stzyfha

3. Other web services you can use:

• http://checkshorturl.com/
• https://unshorten.it/

A friendly reminder - Always be cautious folks.

Thank you jhenfelipe!

This is what I'm exactly asking for, I hope that majority will refer to this thread for checking purposes.

[UserU]

For those with multiple monitors, this poses a greater risk.

Whenever I hover the mouse on hyperlinks on the second monitor, the link doesn't show up. I have to either copy and paste it or move the tab/ window over to the main monitor.

[DdmrDdmr]

<...>

On top of all that, I tend to check all links with VirusTotal (mind you it will not catch them all), turning that into a habit. I even use Opera to browse many URLs just to hide my real IP (it’s basically a proxy, not a VPN), despite using a VPN.

<…> Will you mind sharing the website you use to get your proxies? Are they completely safe to browse over? Paid or free? <…>

To check links and unusual sites I simply use Opera with the (free) VPN function activated (not my usual browser – just for testing things). Opera browser’s VPN is not a real VPN, but rather much more of a proxy. That is an old habit of mine, despite using a proper (paid) VPN on top of that.

[khaled0111]

Whenever I see a post or reply on a forum containing a shortened URL I know there is something phishy as there is no need to use URL shortener when posting on a forum unlike when writing a message on Twitter where the number of characters is limited to 280.

On top of all that, I tend to check all links with VirusTotal (mind you it will not catch them all), turning that into a habit.

Another scanner: https://www.urlvoid.com/
It is always a good practice to use more than one scanner.

[2double0]

<...>

On top of all that, I tend to check all links with VirusTotal (mind you it will not catch them all), turning that into a habit. I even use Opera to browse many URLs just to hide my real IP (it’s basically a proxy, not a VPN), despite using a VPN.

Will you mind sharing the website you use to get your proxies? Are they completely safe to browse over? Paid or free?

...snip...

On top of all that, I tend to check all links with VirusTotal (mind you it will not catch them all), turning that into a habit.

Another scanner: https://www.urlvoid.com/
It is always a good practice to use more than one scanner.

A 4 year-old article opened my eyes that even shortening them is dangerous for our privacy and data. In terms of finding the links, I use http://www.getlinkinfo.com to check all shortened URLs.

[Velkro]

To be honest to avoid this, this forum should remove [url= tag.
There is no real reason to keep it, because it can be used as phishing and when removed, we only loose little (!) readability with longer links.
Im up for security in this case, less phishing here the better

[UserU]

To be honest to avoid this, this forum should remove url=http://tag.
There is no real reason to keep it, because it can be used as phishing and when removed, we only loose little (!) readability with longer links.
Im up for security in this case, less phishing here the better

Even without the URL tag, phishers can disguise letters with indistinguishable ones so they look normal to the naked eye.

[stearns54]

It's because bad people are busy to scam others when a newbie click on a phishing link, they can get wallet hack anytime!

I've always wondered is there really that much people falling for such scams?
If you're surfing internet daily it should be kind of initial to know basic security rules.
Btw it is more scary when bad people are putting malware into gif/jpg/mp4 file and spam people on whatsapp.
All private data (including crypto wallets) is going straight to bad guy.

[nelson4lov]

To be honest to avoid this, this forum should remove
There is no real reason to keep it, because it can be used as phishing and when removed, we only loose little (!) readability with longer links.
Im up for security in this case, less phishing here the better

Believe it or not, The url tag is useful and should be kept as 'it is'. You can't scrap something useful because people abuse the feature. I haven't seen a forum with a disabled hyperlink. Linking out (link juice) is beneficial in terms of SEO. I do understand the point you're trying to make but disabling the url tag doesn't seem to be the best solution.

[nakamura12]

When using a mobile devices hovering is not possible as the mobile devices only use ripple effect due to not having a mouse devices but checking what site is hidden on a hyperlink is still possible to do by tap and hold the hyperlink then it will show the link behind it but not the complete link so you have to copy and then paste it somewhere else like Message App in your phone. Example below:

1.

2.

3.