Canβt believe Iβm making another post about Adf*y in 2021 but here we goβ¦
Iβm sure you all know the new adf*y page which (iβm pretty sure) adf*y skipper canβt skip anymore, the one where it asks to send notifications and wonβt let you proceed until you let them send notifications.
I accidentally just allowed one of these notifications (not at home and using a janky mouse on a pillow, keeps going crazy), so I immediately headed to my chrome settings to get rid of it.
Iβm going through blocking everything before I delete it (just so I feel better about it truly being gone lol) and I see this:
Iβm thinking, what the hell is a payment handler and why is it set to allow?? That super doesnβt sound goodβ¦ And after some googling I find yeah, itβs probably not great.
So, whatβs a payment handler? Basically, itβs when google saves your payment details to autofill later on when youβre making an online purchase. So that includes your credit card, debit card, paypal, ect, details. (Source - askcybersecurity.com) Now these are usually fine on legitimate sites but this site specifically:
You just google βchristianivory.proβ and every result is how to get rid of it because itβs malware. (That picture was after I cleared the cookies it had already stored, no idea what they were)
(btw, I wouldnβt recommend clicking on any of these since malware/viruses are often hidden behind fake anti-malware ads/programs)
Luckily I donβt keep any of my payment details saved so Iβm pretty sure Iβm fine after deleting it and MalwareBytes or Windows Defender hasnβt detected anything. I canβt say for sure what it would have done if I hadnβt of deleted it, it seems to mostly be notification spam but the fact that it was trying to access my payment methods doesnβt sound all that great. Even if having the payment methods allowed doesnβt do shit, Iβve had money stolen from me through an adf*y virus before (source - my tumblr)
Like I said, Iβm pretty sure I got lucky because I donβt save those things but Iβm going to offer a hypothetical situation which could be extremely likely in our community specifically;
Lets say Iβm a 14 year old simmer who uses their parents computer to play the sims. Iβve recently discovered custom content and my favourite creator uses adf*y, but since Iβm young and new to the community I have no idea that adf*y can be bad and I trust this creator so they would never link me to anything that could harm my computerβ¦ right? So I accept that adf*y notification and donβt think anything of it, I get the CC I really like and Iβm happy. But that notification I just accepted has saved my parents credit card details. Iβm sure you can guess where the rest of this situation goes.
So this is me, creator to creator, telling you need to stop. I know finding a source of income can be awful right now, but your source of income could be coming at the expense of someone else who did not agree to this.
If you think your content is worth a price then I urge you to start a Patreon, Ko-Fi or even a paypal because these are platforms that are safe for both parties and are OPTIONAL. Adf*y is not optional for the downloader.
Stop putting the younger and more susceptible people in our community at risk. As creators it is likely that we gain a larger following so stop taking advantage of that. Especially if youβre older or are someone who preaches the safety of our younger members in this space, step up and actually practice what you fucking preach instead of just saying it for likes and reblogs.
I am genuinely sick of this, Iβve been in this community for over half a goddamn decade now and Iβve posted before about adf*y, as have dozens of other people and this shit is STILL happening.
I am so close to wiping my old laptop and recording myself going through creators adf*y links and downloading as many malicious things as I can JUST to prove to people that adf*y is not safe. And no, I wouldnβt blur out blog names, I would specifically be calling people out on their shit. This isnβt just petty simblr drama, this can actually affect peoples lives.
TL:DR;
Itβs Adf*y?? We all know itβs bad, stop using it for the sake of our community members!?? Iβm gonna start calling people out for pretty soon?? STOP PISSING WHERE YOU EAT
how to remove notifications on chrome:
Checking/removing payment methods on chrome:
Iβm sure there are some of you who will take issue with my post for whatever reason so:
1. Donβt comment saying that we should just keep downloading however many adfl*y skippers or avoidant addons or be careful about what we click, that is not the point of this post. We shouldnβt HAVE to do that just to get cc, and new/young community members DONβT KNOW THIS.
2. SimGuruDrake explicitly saying creators cannot use permanent paywalls
source (sims forums)
video on adf*y (old but still relevant info)
video (this dude basically just speedruns getting malware from link shorteners and the ads on the sites lol)
Reblogging for awareness!
