Roger-Luc Chayer (Image: AI / Gay Globe)
In the era of easy fraud on the web, facilitated by numerous widely used applications and Interac transfers that can be manipulated, Gay Globe has implemented, over the years, anti-fraud measures and content protection that we are pleased to explain here.
Protection of Gayglobe.net
A few years ago, just before the pandemic, our authentication system and management of Gayglobe.net relied solely on a single password.
One morning, while opening the computer to prepare the daily publication, I discovered that two articles in English had been published overnight, with no connection to Gay Globe. At first, I thought it was an error on our part, believing that these articles had accidentally appeared in our press feed. Upon closer inspection of the author and the identity of the person who made the post, I realized that someone had managed to discover our password and publish content.
Fortunately, this hacker had no malicious intent, as they could have easily erased all our content and caused severe damage, potentially paralyzing our media group. I interpreted this intervention as a warning to better protect our systems, which I immediately did by adding a second layer of verification, along with an invisible element on the access panel that only the password holder and a random code can detect. That person is me. 🙂
Rejection of Sponsored Articles
A new form of fraud has been circulating on the web for several years, promising large sums of money to content publishers who are not very scrupulous.
I receive about 3 to 5 emails a day from all over the world, from people claiming to want to publish sponsored material on Gay Globe in exchange for a fee. These are always the same approaches, and often, when we try to speak with them directly, they are never available.
Fraud through sponsored articles relies on the appearance of legitimacy provided by publishing content on reputable or professional sites. Fraudsters or organized groups offer websites, often for a fee, to publish articles that seem ordinary but hide illicit objectives.
These texts may contain links to dubious sites, fraudulent products, or platforms designed to collect personal information. Often, fraudsters rely on the public’s natural trust in the media to lend credibility to their operations. In other cases, they are not seeking direct audience engagement but use these articles to artificially improve their search engine ranking by taking advantage of the host site’s authority.
Fraud can also take the form of a fake sponsor: a seemingly legitimate company purchases an article, pays for its publication, but uses this visibility to manipulate or deceive readers for financial, political, or data-collection purposes.
Once the article is published, it is difficult to suspect the maneuver because the content itself appears harmless or professional, making the detection of fraud particularly challenging without a thorough analysis of sources, links, and the true intentions behind the article’s commission.
It is therefore to protect our readers and partners that Gay Globe systematically refuses the publication of external articles containing sponsored links. This is a matter of respect for our readers and professional responsibility.
When Web Management Agencies Become Tools of Fraud
Another type of fraud that frequently targets Gay Globe is the scam involving so-called website analysis specialists who continuously approach us, offering improvements and, most importantly, seeking to obtain our access codes under the guise of a management contract in order to exploit our site for fraud elsewhere.
Fraud through website analyst scams refers to a practice where so-called website analysis experts or consultants present themselves as qualified professionals to improve a site’s performance, but in reality, they manipulate or divert funds without providing actual services.
These individuals may claim to offer services such as SEO audits, security improvements, or conversion optimization, but they only collect information or, worse, install malware or create dubious links. In some cases, these « analysts » recommend costly solutions or tools they themselves own, creating a profit circle for them while damaging the site’s effectiveness.
Of course, in the face of such requests, which typically number between 10 and 20 per week, it is recommended to never respond to these emails and to block them if possible.
For the purposes of this article, Gay Globe has a referral system and dozens of performance tools for our content, which place us at the top of our specialized niche…
The security of our readers, partners, and users is paramount, as it is not only tied to our reputation but also to our credibility in a world where it is essential to systematically question any contact or intention. This is not just a fundamental rule of journalism but an effective means of survival.
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