Really Really Fake Ads on Yahoo Main Page

[Citizendave]

I guess I find it odd that certain famous people haven't noticed, or been alerted by anyone, that their images are being pirated on Yahoo's main page. I have Yahoo email and I see these ads all the time. Maybe I'm old fashioned or something - it surprises me that Yahoo hasn't noticed and safeguarded against this fraudulent advertising, or that other people haven't complained.

Here are examples:

Using Kellyanne Conway's image. I don't think she was paid.



Two on different days with Natalee Holloway's image. I seriously doubt that her family is profiting off the image of this girl who tragically disappeared while in Aruba.





Lebron James - he does endorsements, but I'm confident this ad is fake.



For Stephen Hawking I clicked on the link and read the ad. It was for supplements to make you think better. I really don't think he agreed to the ad.



Also last week, I tweeted messages of warning and links to bogus Yahoo "sponsored" ads to Wolf Blitzer, Anderson Cooper, Bill Gates, and CNN. I just checked, none of the links for the bogus ads works now.

 

[Citizendave]

Here is an ad using Michael Jordan's image:



Clicking on the ad links to a page which has "ESPN" all over it: An image of "Men's Health" magazine is shown. Clicking on that goes nowhere - if Men's Health were actually involved in this ad, obviously it would go to their website. All hyperlinks on this ad go go another ad page for "Andro Best."




The ad also invokes Steph Curry:



"At ESPN, we decided to try the Andro Best ourselves." A native speaker of standard American English would not use the word "the" in the previous sentence.



15 lbs of muscle in just one month! Sounds great!



No! It's actually 16!



"You can get ripped with the Andro Best diet." Diet? I thought these were pills. Whatever.



Copyright ESPN at the bottom of the page. Clicking on About, Privacy, Services, or Privacy all went to another ad for Andro Best.



To be clear, I'm not criticizing the product. It may in fact work wonders. However, the ad has elements which are illegitimate. There is a contact form in case you would like to send them your email address.

 

[MisterBeale]

If you see pictures of me let me know so I can alert my lawyer.

 

[Citizendave]

I will do so.

Since Yahoo shares in the liability, perhaps you could settle the dispute for free email for life, and a lifetime supply of the Andro Best.

 

[Kat]

I hate yahoo!!

 

[Marion Morrison]

I don't see any of those.

 

[ChrisL]

I don't use Yahoo much.

 

[Marion Morrison]

I don't use Yahoo much.

It's a good way to get your OS trashed.

 

[ChrisL]

I don't use Yahoo much.

It's a good way to get your OS trashed.

How? Viruses?

 

[Marion Morrison]

I don't use Yahoo much.

It's a good way to get your OS trashed.

How? Viruses?

Yeah, Yahoo is pretty bad.

I don't see any of those ads in the OP because I use adblock plus.

 

[ChrisL]

I don't use Yahoo much.

It's a good way to get your OS trashed.

How? Viruses?

Yeah, Yahoo is pretty bad.

I don't see any of those ads in the OP because I use adblock plus.

I have ad blocker too, plus I don't go to Yahoo or source them very often.

 

[Citizendave]

I really may be playing with fire, because I found an ad which is apparently not selling anything. That may be an indicator that the goal is to put a virus on my system.

On Yahoo's main page (again, where one logs in) I clicked on "Chuck Berry's Net Worth Is Repulsive:"



Which led to a page where I saw nothing of Chuck Berry, but instead a ridiculous claim that Amy Schumer has a net worth of 1 million dollars. I did some research, and this was accurate as of a few years ago. She is now estimated by various sources to be worth around 16 million. The paragraph mentions her new book, but no link for going to Amazon where it is for sale.



I clicked on a variety of images, and I could not find anything for sale. I clicked on the green ad at the top for Pedigree Puppy food (Get Coupon!) which landed me on a black page with the same image in the middle of the page - no bar code - not a coupon.

So, someone paid Yahoo to put up an ad to sell nothing. But, there is a link for a free online test - if you submit your personal documents they will tell you whether or not you qualify for a concealed carry gun permit. I thought it over and decided not to do this.

 

[Citizendave]

In documenting another Yahoo Sponsored ad from their main log in page, I've come across an ad which is not "Really Really Fake" but the question still remains - was the celebrity whose image was used compensated? For a variety of reasons, it is both difficult to believe that they are and are not.

Either way, other celebs mentioned on the connected pages are probably not, since they are presented as "news."

Here is the initial ad which I checked out: "Brett Farve's Daughter Finally Broke Her Silence."



There is so much about what I'm seeing that does not add up for me.

Brett Farve has an estimated net worth is 100 million dollars. Is he looking to make a little extra cash to pay the gardener? Is this ad campaign the way to do that?

But then again, maybe he is participating in this. Maybe he has a PR firm looking to keep him relevant. And, he has access to attorneys if he did not want Yahoo, or the organization paying Yahoo, putting his image under the words "Sponsored" to generate clicks, he could probably stop them.

Anyway, clicking on this baffling ad brought up a page of website calling itself the Kiwi Report. It says nothing about Farve or his daughter. The ad for Paypal took me to Paypal, and was the legit Paypal site.



I clicked on the "Politics" link which brought up the page below, the linked ad for Sprint took me to their site and was legit. An ad for Paypal (not pictured) took me to their site and was legit.



I clicked on the "Science" link at the top of the page, and saw a story about Zika virus possibly being sexually transmitted. I smelled a rat and clicked. The story was written by "News Editor" so I thought I was onto a fake story. I wasn't. Major news outlets reported in July of last year, and at the end of January that Zika has been found in the sperm of infected men. It is unknown if Zika can be transmitted and studies are underway.



At the bottom of the short article on Zika, I clicked on a tourism ad for Ireland. It took me to the page and was legit.



I then clicked on the "About" link to find out about Kiwi Report. On the About page it says, "Kiwi Report is a part of the Brainye international publishing family." Clicking on the link to Brainye went to a page that has no workiing links but says, "Each one of our team members is obsessed about content...."

The ownership of Brainye and Kiwi Report are masked, to some degree or another, on WhoIs. GoDaddy founder Bob Parsons has formed a company called Domains By Proxy, LLC which handles third party inquiries for nearly 10 million subscribers, and Brainye is a subscriber.



The About page has a "contact" link, where an email address info@brainye.com is given.



Nothing I have seen has cleared up my initial question. I doubt that an email to Brainye would solve the puzzle, but I may send one anyway.

 

[Dalia]

In France we have Orange.fr it is the same kind of ads...the one make the Pc don't wrong well they are call Taboolia they have some here at the forum as well.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

I said the same thing in someone else's thread complaining about Yahoo...seriously...why is ANYONE still using Yahoo?
The only other "home page" website that is more annoying is MSN.com