Back in January 2015, users reported on Google AdSense Help Forum that users to their websites were being redirected to some URLs. The redirection occurred only when AdSense was enabled on site and removing AdSense code would stop the redirection. As noted by Sucuri, URLs where user were being redirected included lemode-mgz. com, adwynn. com, rgeoffreyblackburn. com, securevoluum .com, wan-tracker .com, consumernews247 .com etc. This issue spread across the Internet widely as a lot of sites took note of it.
Related article: How to Fix asnews.com.sg Redirect Issue
Google took its time to respond to the issue and posted a statement on January 16, 2015. Google acknowledged that a new type of ad spam was being investigated.
The same type of issue seems be affecting users of techstuffer.com now (See updates below). When ads start loading on techstuffer.com, users are being redirected to asnews.com.sg. I have posted the issue on Google AdSense support forum with no response so far. Upon investigating further, I have found the buyer of these hijacked ads is ‘Adform’. I am not sure whether Adform is an old AdSense ad network or newly approved one.
On Google Chrome, the affected ad zone displays broken image. On Firefox, the infected ad zone stays blank. When an ad zone with asnews.com.sg as destination URL is loaded, the visitor is automatically redirected to asnews.com.sg.
I am (not) sure (if) Google is concerned enough about such issues which affect the publishers and drive traffic from their site to another, completely unknown URL. This issue is costing me loss of users and revenue as users are now moving away from my site due to hijacked ads.
If you are having the same issue, please let me know in comments and also make sure to post the same in support forum. Meanwhile, I am blocking the ad network Adform to make sure such malvertised ads are not displayed on techstuffer.com. I will be posting the updates on this matter.
Update: Many users are thinking this as a result of virus/malware in their computer. This is not related to virus or a hacked website. Since blocking Adform from AdSense network settings, visitors to techstuffer.com are no longer facing the issue. Read why I believe this is AdSense issue. Also read how to fix asnews.com.sg redirect issue.
You were reading Is AdSense Ads Hijacking Back? ‘Malvertised’ Ads Redirecting Automatically to asnews.com.sg on techstuffer.com. If you found this article useful, share it with others.
Update #1: Another user have started reporting the similar issue. A reply posted on my AdSense form topic describes the similar redirection issue where the visitors are being redirected to asnews.com.sg automatically.
Update #2: One more user has reported the same redirection issue in comments to this article.
Update #3: Users on Singapore Hardware Zone forum are reporting an issue which also involves redirection to asnews.com.sg.
Update #4: A user on flaunt.ru forum has reported the same redirection issue with robert-sheehan.org site.
Related article: asnews.com.sg Redirect Issue Spreads Further: Google Are You Listening?
Related article: How to Fix asnews.com.sg Redirect Issue
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Any responses? I am facing the same issue here. Got a few mails from my readers regarding this. Could you share the adunit? Maybe we can block it from the dashboard!
Sadly no response from Google so far. I have blocked Adform (the malvertised ad’s buyer) from AdSense ad network settings. Where are your users being redirected? Also I have an ongoing thread on AdSense support forum – https://goo.gl/8AR63F
Same destination (asnews). I’ll block Adform too. It’s better to contact Adform support than Adsense. Adsense is known for its obsolete support system. Most of the times, productforums won’t help at all! I have bookmarked your thread. I’ll keep checking it.
Thanks for the input Karthikeyan.
Parvez i am also being redirected to http://asnews.com.sg/ . I am using Firefox. What is the solution please ?
On which site are you facing the issue and how frequently? This issue is not from user side but publisher side. The website owner should take it to the ad network and report. On your end though, you can install ad blocker in the mean time to stop all ads.
When I’m on jisho.org, a japanese-english dictionary, I sometimes get redirected to this site. I don’t live in singapore, so it’s not just an issue targeted at Singaporeans.
It couldn’t be a malicious chrome extention, as it just happened in incognito mode, and I don’t allow any extensions in incognito.
Chrome doesn’t recognise it as a separate page, so if i click the back button,it takes me to the page before the one with the malicious ad, so i have to go back and try looking my word up in the dictionary again
Thanks for the input. I am awaiting response from AdSense regarding this. By the way, this is definitely not an extension issue. It happens in Firefox as well.
randomly redirecting to asnews.sg
eg. trying to visit youtube but keeps redirecting me to asnews.sg
asnews.com.sg redirect issue is spreading further. New article – https://techstuffer.com/asnews-com-sg-redirect-issue-spreads-further/
i AM FACING THE SAME ISSUE
Hi Stuti, if you are a publisher having issue with your site, block Adform from AdSense ad network settings, If you are having issue on other sites as well, install ad blocker in your browser.
I am getting redirected to http://asnews.com.sg/ when i surf YOUTUBE. Happens once in a while.
Report the same to Google via Feedback link and install adblocker in the mean time.
sites youtube redirected to asnews.com.sg. I used browser firefox
Hi Peter, please read more about fixing this issue here – https://techstuffer.com/fix-asnews-com-sg-redirect-issue/. Keep me in loop for further updates.
When surfing legitimate sites like YouTube using Firefox and Chrome, I also got redirected to this asnews.com.sg site. And it happens almost everyday. When redirected, I did not click anything on that site but just close the tab immediately. I’m not a techie person. This episode made me a little phobia of surfing websites, but even sites like YouTube (with httpS) is also susceptible, what can I do? My concern now is will my pc/laptop unknowingly get infected with any virus/spyware/malware just by this redirect(s), or is it just some Adsense codes which need to be vetted by Google (that is, once rectified by Google, things will be back to normal – no more redirects). Can any techie expert kindly advise me (especially on the virus/spyware/malware concern)? Any official update/statement from Google yet? Thanks in advance.
Hi. Unfortunately Google has not made any official statement on this issue so far. The best thing you can do right now is to install an ad blocker in your web browser. If you don’t know what is it and how to use it, feel free to let me know. You can read more about how to fix this issue here – https://techstuffer.com/fix-asnews-com-sg-redirect-issue/