Page-jacking

Page-jacking is the use of replicas of reputable web pages to catch users and redirect them to other websites.

Scammers copy pages from an established website and put them on a new site that appears to be legitimate. They register this new site with major search engines, so that users doing a search fi nd and follow links to it. When the user arrives at the website, they are automatically redirected to a different site that displays advertising or offers of different services. They may also fi nd that they cannot escape from the site without restarting their computer (see Mousetrapping).

Scammers use page-jacking to increase the number of visitors to a website. That means that their site commands more advertising revenue and is also more valuable if they decide to sell it. Alternatively, the scammer can redirect users to another site and claim a fee for “referring” visitors to that site.

Page-jacking annoys users and can confront them with offensive material. It also reduces revenue for legitimate websites, and makes search engines less useful.

In some cases, page-jacking is used in phishing attacks.

To avoid page-jacking, use a bookmark or “Favorite” (but you must be sure that you did not set up the favorite at a page-jacked site), or type the desired website address (the URL) in directly.

Sophos.com