Thank you to all readers who alerted us to the following problem!
There are currently increasing reports from users who are shown unwanted "pop-ups" as soon as they open website links via their mobile browser. These "pop-ups" lure the user with various competitions and cannot be closed; they can only be confirmed with "OK". Clicking on them then leads the user to another website, which often claims to be from a well-known brand.
Since this type of advertising violates the guidelines of any advertising system, such as Google Adsense, it should generally be filtered automatically. Unfortunately, it often happens that this does not work and the security systems are essentially bypassed.
What is Ad Cloaking?
This type of advertising manipulation is called “ad cloaking” and is characterized by the fact that it disguises itself as normal advertising, but exploits loopholes in advertising systems. The system can be compared to a Trojan horse that penetrates undetected.
In its current form, this type of advertising only appears on smartphones and in most cases only when the user clicks on a shared link on Facebook and Twitter. Ad cloaking is a major problem on the Internet that advertisers, such as Apfelpatient, can hardly get under control themselves. Both large and small websites can be affected.
What to do if you get redirected?
If such a competition appears, the site or the corresponding app should be closed immediately. Clicking on "ok" is not a problem at first, but it can become a problem if the person concerned enters personal data on these apparently legitimate websites. So be careful here!
