About the Unsafe Site Warning

[KTK10]

Hi! I am getting the following message every time I click on this site:

Deceptive site ahead

Attackers on www.carls-sims-4-guide.com may trick you into doing something dangerous like installing software or revealing your personal information (for example, passwords, phone numbers, or credit cards).

Automatically send some system information and page content to Google to help detect dangerous apps and sites. Privacy policy

Google Safe Browsing recently detected phishing on www.carls-sims-4-guide.com. Phishing sites pretend to be other websites to trick you. Learn more.

You can report a detection problem or, if you understand the risks to your security, visit this unsafe site.

Is anyone else getting this as well?

[HelenP]

Yes, I did.  When I came to the forum this morning (9.20 British Summer Time), I the same error page.

I filled in the 'This site is fine' form that was linked to it but I thought I'd better say something in case there was an issue with an ad or the server.

[Ninane]

I haven't gotten any message like that this morning.  I use Bitdefender here in the UK for all of my computer security.  It's a paid, full service computer security package that my husband and I have been using for several years.  Touch wood, we've never had an issue with a virus, etc. getting through.

I use Google Chrome as my browse but I have turned OFF the following:

• Automatically send some system information and page content to Google to help detect dangerous apps and sites
• Automatically send usage statistics and crash reports to Google
• Protect you and your device from dangerous sites

I think they get enough information already.   It's good for the admins to know that Google has an issue, though.  Hopefully they'll get to the bottom of it.  FYI, if Bitdefender had detected anything bad on the Carl's site forums, it wouldn't let me pull the site up at all.  So whatever it is, it's something Google is doing/detecting.

[Metropolis Man]

Yep - I was just about to send Carl an IM in Yahoo, but thought since I'm on a Mac -- I'd reboot into OS X to see. No problems. So, I did get that on Bootcamp while starting up in Windows. Weird.

[saltpastillen]

I get the same message when using google chrome, but when I checked with explorer I didn't get a warning. I am also in the UK.

[Nindigo]

I, too, have received that message just now. I'm using Firefox, but clicked the option 'this is not a deceptive site'. Let's hope it works.

[Carl]

This morning, Google detected and alerted me that something redirecting users had made its way onto one of the ad networks I work with. Until I determine exactly where, and what it is, I've disabled all non-Google ads on the site.

For now, when visiting through google search and using google chrome, there is a warning about our site being deceptive - on every page of the domain, including the forum.  I will not re-enable ads until I know that the culprit has been removed, and should any network prove to be a habitual offender I would cease working with them.

This is a very frustrating experience, but I'm glad that Google does this as it'd be even worse for something to go undetected and cause real people real problems.

[Nevermore]

I didn't see this topic, and sent you a PM about it.

I do use google chrome. I didn't get here through google search, just the link that was saved in my browser history. From what parts of the forum I can get at, I don't see much different.

[HelenP]

It's also happening using Firefox.

[HelenP]

Carl has a post explaining what's happening here: http://www.carls-sims-4-guide.com/forum/index.php?topic=28808.msg468773#msg468773

[Carl]

Thanks for the info about firefox @HelenP - it must be a nasty one for it to come up in both browsers.

Ads for guests are now disabled on the forum, as well..

[Nancy01905]

I got it as well on google chrome but I was able to get on IE

[KTK10]

Thank you so much @Carl. How frustrating for you and the other moderators! Will keep checking back and let us know if there is anything we can do to help.

[scoed]

I overwritten the warning to be here on chrome I am constantly having to click off warnings from both my antivirus and chrome. I hope this is resolved soon.

[CuriousSim]

It hasn't happened recently, but I think it should be mentioned, that in the past, I have had bad Google ads set off my Anti-virus as well. Perhaps, that should also be looked into, as a precaution. Legitimate commercial sites would suddenly spawn a Google Ad, that would attempt to hijack the browser. I'm not sure if Google has patched ads that become rogue, or not.

[sdhoey]

I'm glad I read this, this morning on my phone. Because I just got on my computer and got the big red screen, so I knew not to panic.

[Nevermore]

@Carl: The issue seems solved for me now. I didn't get any warnings or anything. Whatever caused it seems to be gone.

[Metropolis Man]

I checked an hour ago and the stupid warning was still up. @Nevermore -- did you do something to make it go away? Or did it just go away on its own?

[Nevermore]

@Metropolis Man: It went away on it's own for a while. If I come straight to the index page, it gives the dangerous alert. If I go directly to one of the boards or a specific topic, it doesn't do it. I have browser histories from different topics, to keep track of stories, etc.

It seems for me going on the index page triggers it.

[LivingInSim]

For what it's worth, I visited here, saw the bad warning, and flagged you as a safe site: https://safebrowsing.google.com/safebrowsing/report_error/?tpl=mozilla&hl=en-US&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.carls-sims-4-guide.com%2Frelationships%2Fromance.php (I was visiting an interior page from Firefox).

This sucks, and I'm sorry this happened.  You likely already know and I don't want to assume, but it might be a good idea to check your site's security certificate as well and see if it expired for some reason.  Long time lurker and I'd hate to see your site get in Google jail.

[Carl]

@LivingInSim Thanks for the vote of confidence.

They did review us - I just got the email from Google that states the review process was successful and they'll remove the warning and ranking penalty shortly.

I'll still have to figure out which ad provider was doing this, and hope nothing like it comes up again. Sadly you always have bad actors that put ads on any network, and those can be used maliciously. It is why things like what google did are appropriate. Hacks and unsavory ads can happen without a webmaster knowing, so them warning visitors (along with the webmaster) gives a chance to fix that without visitors getting infected. They are also working with networks to develop standards - what you can put in an ad, and what you can't. The obvious (bad scripts), are obviously not allowed. Less obvious, fake download buttons in ads that try to get users to install malware.

[LivingInSim]

Glad it's on the mend!  As an Adwords advertiser, I totally get it!  The ads have to be appropriate for the site for everyone's sake, and not malicious malwertising (like this one likely was).  You guys definitely have your act together and have been around for a while, so I'm sure Google will take care of it.

[Nancy01905]

I am back on the site on chrome.

[scoed]

Problem seems to be fixed. The warning is gone.

[KTK10]

 All fixed for me too. Thanks so much guys 

[ladybug53]

I got the same message on both Google and Firefox . Wasn't able to come on this site at all , all of yesterday . This morning all seems fine .