Careless copying of forum links redirects you to Binance

[witcher_sense]

I am not sure whether this thread belongs to Meta, but I found out that something 'interesting' may happen if you accidentally forget to include a leading 'b' when copying forum links and pasting then in your browser.

For example, here is a random link that leads to a thread on bitcointalk:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5273824.0


Here is the 'same' link, but without 'b':

Code:

https://itcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5273824.0

The link like that redirects you to somebody's refferal page on Binance:

Code:

https://accounts.binance.com/en/register?ref=BV4QAXOW

The domain  itcointalk.org was registered roughly two months ago:

    Name: itcointalk.org
    Internationalized Domain Name: itcointalk.org
    Registry Domain ID: 500748848d674f0eb9886cfa206f7763-LROR
    Domain Status:

    active
    Nameservers:

    ns1.radinko.com

    ns2.radinko.com

Dates

    Registry Expiration: 2023-11-02 22:12:04 UTC
    Updated: 2022-11-07 22:12:26 UTC
    Created: 2022-11-02 22:12:04 UTC

Should it be reported? Its owner clearly takes advantage of people's accidently copying incomplete links....

[1714633131]

1714633131

[1714633131]

1714633131

[cryptoaddictchie]

Ive click the without B and you are right its directly going to a binance registration referral site. The potential click bait for someone who forgot the b on typing the forum site isnt that many but still this is like posting a referral in a subtle manner which still invalid and prohibited on forum rules.

Good grief that you manage to discover this. I think the site must be reported.

[mk4]

Should it be reported? Its owner clearly takes advantage of people's accidently copying incomplete links....

or taking advantage of people mistyping bitcointalk.org.

It's just referral marketers taking advantage of stuff. Might be quite annoying, but it's not like they're redirecting you to a malicious website or something.

[LoyceV]

Here is the 'same' link, but without 'b':

Code:

https://itcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5273824.0

It now goes to ww62.itcointalk.org/, which shows the typical domain-typo-spam ("Forex Trading, Advertise").

The link like that redirects you to somebody's refferal page on Binance:

Code:

https://accounts.binance.com/en/register?ref=BV4QAXOW

Maybe it depends on where you're loading the page from. Or they changed it already.

The domain  itcointalk.org was registered roughly two months ago:

The funny part is this:

Code:

Registrant Country: CZ

Should it be reported? Its owner clearly takes advantage of people's accidently copying incomplete links....

It's not illegal, but might break Binance's referral rules (if you can reproduce that referral link). I doubt they care though.
There's nothing the forum can do about it (other than have a lawyer threaten the domain owner with legal action, as large corporations often do).

[UserU]

Nah, it's just another form of typosquatting. Unless it's malicious (i.e. brings you to a fake Bitcointalk page), people do that for some less than savory marketing but no one in the right mind would expect Binance when they are after the forum itself.

[DdmrDdmr]

Looking over the results on dnstwister, there are a bunch of site that deliberately mimic the forum’s domain name, waiting to take some kind of potential benefit out of people miswriting it, or simply playing along to the hope of not knowing the proper extension:

https://dnstwister.report/search?ed=626974636f696e74616c6b2e6f7267

Some similarly named sites derive to other wannabe forums, other go to Exchange pages (probably through a referral code of some sort), whilst others are just up for grabs on a resell.


It’s kind of a common practice. These are the results for Binance (plenty of referral redirects there):
https://dnstwister.report/search?ed=62696e616e63652e636f6d

[Upgrade00]

<snip>

I was trying different permutations of the binance domain name and already found about three of such websites looking to take advantage of someone's mistake. The dnstwister would save a lot of time used searching up variations of the URL.

While i agree it should be reported, i bet decent amount of effort is needed since there are 28 similar domain (based on website mentioned by @DdmrDdmr).

Might not be worth it. For one, the reports might not be acted upon, and they are just generic domains that don't take much to create, they will spring up faster than they can be reported.

[Little Mouse]

Should it be reported? Its owner clearly takes advantage of people's accidently copying incomplete links....

I don't think it's something you should report. There are a lot of people taking such advantages. People use this trick for popular casino too. Beside, in google ads, most of the first page result with ads are actually a redirect to the referral link.
If the redirected site was malicious, that was something you could be concerned. Anyway, I doubt the guy is getting a lot of sign up from the referrals by applying this trick lol.

There's nothing the forum can do about it (other than have a lawyer threaten the domain owner with legal action, as large corporations often do).

There's a chance that a few people who got tricked by this, may think bitcointalk is redirected to binance. can't imagine theymos doing this ever lol.

[bittraffic]

Should it be reported? Its owner clearly takes advantage of people's accidently copying incomplete links....

I don't think it's something you should report. There are a lot of people taking such advantages. People use this trick for popular casino too. Beside, in google ads, most of the first page result with ads are actually a redirect to the referral link.
If the redirected site was malicious, that was something you could be concerned. Anyway, I doubt the guy is getting a lot of sign up from the referrals by applying this trick lol.

There's nothing the forum can do about it (other than have a lawyer threaten the domain owner with legal action, as large corporations often do).

There's a chance that a few people who got tricked by this, may think bitcointalk is redirected to binance. can't imagine theymos doing this ever lol.

If he DMs the link to social media I guess he can benefit ion referring users to binance as it's his goal in registering this domain. Probably sending the link to telegram users too and he could easily say he misspelled it.

But obviously, even without these DMs, he does have the intention to use the domain to redirect users to his binance ref link.
This is not far from the situation of registering bitcointalk.xyz and sending visitors to binance ref.

[drwhobox]

Someone bought the domain and redirect every link with his Binance referral link. A cheeky way to get people to register under referral program of binance but I am not sure how successful the domain owner would be.

The good thing is, it is not a replica of Binance or any phishing site. So in that case there is nothing to report.

OP might have mistakenly did not put b, and found out about this. Always check the domain is typed correctly.

[uchegod-21]

Nah, it's just another form of typosquatting. Unless it's malicious (i.e. brings you to a fake Bitcointalk page), people do that for some less than savory marketing but no one in the right mind would expect Binance when they are after the forum itself.

That is why I have been trying to understand the actual reason for creating that domain.
The interface of bitcointalk is quite different from that of Binance. No one in their right senses would continue on Binance affiliation page while expecting bitcointalk.
I think it is a wrong method of promotion which may not result to any positive thing to the creator.
The bitcointalk admin will only be bothered if the site is malicious otherwise it should be ignored.

[UserU]

That is why I have been trying to understand the actual reason for creating that domain.
The interface of bitcointalk is quite different from that of Binance. No one in their right senses would continue on Binance affiliation page while expecting bitcointalk.
I think it is a wrong method of promotion which may not result to any positive thing to the creator.
The bitcointalk admin will only be bothered if the site is malicious otherwise it should be ignored.

You can say the same reason why people target domains that are related to existing or potentially new products, say Xbox 2.

But it ain't dumb if it works. If people could fall for the "deposit to receive 2X crypto back", I won't be surprised to see people signing up under the referral link and maybe even trading there.

[drwhobox]

But it ain't dumb if it works. If people could fall for the "deposit to receive 2X crypto back", I won't be surprised to see people signing up under the referral link and maybe even trading there.

I don't think people who mistakenly entered into that redirected page will ever sign up. Especially people who searches for Bitcointalk and ends up here will ever sign up to this referral program.
At Least people who spends fair amount of time will not fall for this, but maybe it is targeted for newbies.

[NotATether]

Ive click the without B and you are right its directly going to a binance registration referral site. The potential click bait for someone who forgot the b on typing the forum site isnt that many but still this is like posting a referral in a subtle manner which still invalid and prohibited on forum rules.

I would disagree because this is going to the real Binance site, not to a phishing clone (which would've been more concerning to me).

There's even a typosquat that takes you to some page of somebody begging for Bitcoins: b i t o c i n t a l k . o r g

[FatFork]

But it ain't dumb if it works. If people could fall for the "deposit to receive 2X crypto back", I won't be surprised to see people signing up under the referral link and maybe even trading there.

I don't think people who mistakenly entered into that redirected page will ever sign up. Especially people who searches for Bitcointalk and ends up here will ever sign up to this referral program.
At Least people who spends fair amount of time will not fall for this, but maybe it is targeted for newbies.

If you visit a referral page, or are redirected to one, there is also a tracking cookie that is usually embedded in your browser. This means that if you eventually create an account with Binance, even if it's months later, the tracking cookie will let Binance know which referral link you used in the past. The person who set up the redirect website will then receive credit for the referral. It's likely that this is the main reason for setting up the redirect website and spreading the tracking cookie with his referral code as widely as possible.

Although this tactic might be a bit shady and deceptive, I agree with others that there is no basis for reporting the website. After all, there's nothing illegal about it as far as I know. It is possible, however, that it violates Binance's affiliate marketing policy.

[UserU]

I don't think people who mistakenly entered into that redirected page will ever sign up. Especially people who searches for Bitcointalk and ends up here will ever sign up to this referral program.
At Least people who spends fair amount of time will not fall for this, but maybe it is targeted for newbies.

Same here.

Well, on the Internet, anyone would do anything for a quick buck.

[NeuroticFish]

b i t o c i n t a l k . o r g

Yeah, there are far too many careless people who write bitocin, etherium and so on.
itcointalk is not even the worse.

I don't find it concerning for now since, as said, it's not a malicious site for now.
Plus I don't think that are too many falling for this. Even the newbies may already have account at Binance, and then I think that this referral will not be taken into account.


The only problem is that it can easily become malicious in the future if the owner finds out that he is not earning much from those ref links and decides to impersonate websites and do phishing.

[Doan9269]

I will have to say this that I'd never trusted in these exchanges from the start because what somebfo is to get users redirected to their site whenever they are in search of the key word bitcoin, or make a misspell in it, why are other sites nit showing up or even have the bitcointalk brought as the related options for search, all I will always give to advise newbies and those not accurate in their typing skills is to always recheck for word misspelled before searching.

[cryptoaddictchie]

I would disagree because this is going to the real Binance site, not to a phishing clone (which would've been more concerning to me).

Yes its the real Binance. But even so, the site still used a very disturbing website domain. Ive seen some posted referral links and probably reported and probably deleted here.

Anyway the typo is probably for the careless here which the creator targeted.