U.S.-Based Business Says It Was Swarmed With Unwanted Traffic From Wellpaid-Bux.com, A Paid-To-Click Site With Argentinian Address
The operator of a U.S.-based business contacted the PP Blog early this afternoon, saying the enterprise was being swarmed by unwanted traffic from Wellpaid-Bux.com, an apparent paid-to-click “program.”
Wellpaid-Bux uses a hotmail email address and a street address in Argentina, according to registration data, although the “program’s” domain appears to be hosted in the United States. The slow-loading site appears to use shared hosting, which may mean that website performance of other host customers on the same server is suffering.
At one time today, the operator of the U.S. based business said, there were “400 visitors” from Wellpaid-Bux “right now” — and all of the traffic was “junk.” The chief executive officer of the U.S.-based company said the firm never authorized the use of its URL in an advertising rotator or paid-to-click program.
The CEO, who has considerable computer expertise, said it was highly likely that Wellpaid-Bux was wasting the bandwidth of any number of companies by displaying their URLs and sending garbage traffic to the website owners so Wellpaid-Bux members — who apparently pay a fee to be listed by the firm — can theoretically get paid for clicking on “ads.”
Paid-to-click and autosurf sites are infamous for wasting the system resources of third parties, sending junk traffic and passing along the bandwidth costs or the costs of downtime and maintenance to owners of sites that have no ties to the “opportunity” and do not want their companies’ names and brands associated with murky enterprises.
After evaluating the unwanted condition caused by Wellpaid-Bux, the U.S.-based firm wrote .htaccess code to prevent Wellpaid-Bux from displaying an ad for the firm.
Here is the code:
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} wellpaid-bux.com [NC]
RewriteRule .* – [F]
Little is known about Wellpaid-Bux, which appears to have been created on Christmas Day 2010. Its precise business model was not immediately clear.
What is clear is the the firm has caught the attention of at least one U.S.-based company that defined the unsolicited traffic it was receiving as maintenance-causing and resource-draining garbage.
A number of firms using a take on the word “bux” have participated in the PTC or autosurf spheres, promising payouts to members who click on “advertisements.” Some of the enterprises have been pure Ponzi schemes.
wellpaid-bux.com is the best pay per click site where I am registered!
I love that site. I’m paid several times. I do not understand what went on this blog.
Oh, well,
that’s all right, then.
As long as you’re getting paid, who cares if the businesses’ website is being swamped with unwanted garbage traffic ?
Who cares if “wellpaid-bux.com” is using the name of the business without authorization ??
You’re getting paid.
Screw anybody else.
After all, all’s fair in love, war and HYIP ponzi games..
Fernanda,
What “went on” on this Blog is that it was contacted by a U.S.-based business that cares about its reputation and is paying the bill for its ordinary bandwidth needs. The U.S.-based business was being swarmed by unsolicited, junk traffic from Wellpaid-Bux a continent away — and Wellpaid-Bux was forcing this traffic on the U.S. company and potentially handing it a bill for extraordinary bandwidth costs.
Or, as littleroundman put it, the U.S. company was “being swamped with unwanted garbage traffic” from Wellpaid-Bux so folks such as yourself could get “paid” for clicking on ads.
Had this U.S. company not had adequate bandwidth to accommodate this sudden and unexpected pounding, its server could have crashed — thus affecting its ability to serve its own customers.
I’m wondering, Fernanda: Would you be enthusiastic if, say, your online business used shared hosting and knew what it was going to cost $10 a month — but then out of the blue got handed a bill for $400 for extraordinary bandwidth costs or even had its server account suspended for the crippling effect on other customers caused by the unsolicited traffic Wellpaid-Bux sent to your website?
Patrick
Patrick