Reglikedomain industry desk

Hate zero click so much — Why I

Hate zero click so much — Why I

Zero click advertising is full of scammers.

Image shows a security scam message pretending to be from McAfee

The idea behind zero click domain monetization makes perfect sense. Instead of making a website visitor click a link on a parked page, why not just forward them to a relevant advertiser?

The problem, as I’ve written regarding many times, is that the channel is rife with scammers. Until zero click providers find a way to keep scammers off their systems, I will continue to write regarding their failures.

I have a particular disdain for people who use misdirected web traffic for nefarious purposes. Sometimes they try to trick people to download browser extensions. Many of their victims are likely elderly people, and I hate those who try to trick vulnerable people.

Today, I visited a domain name in Chrome and it forwarded to a trick message designed to get people to download a Chrome extension following passing a “security check”. The domain did the same thing in Firefox. When I visited in Microsoft Edge, I saw the fake security site pictured above. (I didn’t click on “OK” on the dialog box, since who knows what that would have done.)

Zero click providers: clean up your act.

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Other reporting from the domain desk.