So after re-doing the SEO on the website for my book series recently (can't link due to it costing money and OcUKs policy on this) I searched for my book earlier to see if much had changed (it hadn't). What I found instead though, around half way down the first page on Google, was some dodgy looking site with the word book in the name, but a .us domain and not much else of any credibility, except the fact it was discussing my book.
I clicked it, and start reading a forum thread on comicbookresources.com about someone asking for a downloadable copy of my book, to which a bunch of obvious spam bots reply with various things like "Hey friend, I sure do like this website for that purpose <dodgylookingwebsite.com>", and "That book is incredible, changed my life forever". I register on the site so I can reply asking what in the hell is going on (as it appears to be a well know, popular comic book site), and suddenly I find the thread no longer exists.
Wondering what's up, I go back to Google and search again, and click the link once more. This time I'm sent to a completely different website/forum (again well known and mildly relevant to my book) in which the first post's text is the same, but the replies are variations on the first set. This time I notice the URL is not the one the forum is actually hosted on, but if I click any links, I'm sent there.
Obviously this is some kind of spam, built to trick people into thinking they're browsing a popular forum when they're actually not, but as all the links in the "fake" forum were legitimate, I'm not sure what the point of it all is? The method used is clever enough to crawl through Amazon for random books, and pulls images and vague descriptions with it, which is something in itself.
For reference, my book is not well known, nor does it have anywhere near enough sales to have actually popped up on any forums for discussion, so I know this is definitely spam and not real posts.
P.S. I have since run a malware scan and found nothing, just in case, and the site I registered on (comicbookresources.com) was definitely a real one (though I used a random password just in case).
Tl;dr: Some spam is clever and deceiving.
I clicked it, and start reading a forum thread on comicbookresources.com about someone asking for a downloadable copy of my book, to which a bunch of obvious spam bots reply with various things like "Hey friend, I sure do like this website for that purpose <dodgylookingwebsite.com>", and "That book is incredible, changed my life forever". I register on the site so I can reply asking what in the hell is going on (as it appears to be a well know, popular comic book site), and suddenly I find the thread no longer exists.
Wondering what's up, I go back to Google and search again, and click the link once more. This time I'm sent to a completely different website/forum (again well known and mildly relevant to my book) in which the first post's text is the same, but the replies are variations on the first set. This time I notice the URL is not the one the forum is actually hosted on, but if I click any links, I'm sent there.
Obviously this is some kind of spam, built to trick people into thinking they're browsing a popular forum when they're actually not, but as all the links in the "fake" forum were legitimate, I'm not sure what the point of it all is? The method used is clever enough to crawl through Amazon for random books, and pulls images and vague descriptions with it, which is something in itself.
For reference, my book is not well known, nor does it have anywhere near enough sales to have actually popped up on any forums for discussion, so I know this is definitely spam and not real posts.
P.S. I have since run a malware scan and found nothing, just in case, and the site I registered on (comicbookresources.com) was definitely a real one (though I used a random password just in case).
Tl;dr: Some spam is clever and deceiving.
