Cityratetod.live is a highly questionable website that currently hosts a giveaway scam. When you get redirected to the website, you will be greeted with a “Congratulations” message saying you have been selected to take part in a survey, completing which would supposedly result in a reward (e.g. an iPhone 13). The scam is made to appear like a giveaway hosted by Amazon but in reality, Amazon has nothing to do with this. This is a classic example of a giveaway scam and should be fairly obvious to users who are aware of such scams.
“You have been randomly selected to take this survey. It will only take a minute and you will receive an amazing prize: Apple iPhone 13,” is how this particular scam begins. According to the scam, all you have to do is complete a survey that will allegedly help Amazon improve its services. The website’s comments section is full of fake testimonies of people who have supposedly received their prizes. The comments are very obviously fake, though they will help to trick users who are at least a little bit susceptible to such scams.
There are only a couple of questions on the survey, and they are all generic. After you answer the survey, you will be notified that you have won a prize. You would need to provide your personal information in order to receive it. It will ask for your full name, home address, phone number, email address, etc. to be specific. This is the whole point of these scams. Successfully phished users’ personal information is in high demand because it can be used to target users with sophisticated scams. The data is often sold on hacker forums to other cybercriminals. There is not much you can do if you have handed your information to scammers, though you can at least be on higher alert if you know you may be targeted.
Similar scams may also request you pay for the shipping of the prize. The amounts are usually on the smaller side but even sums of $5 or $10 can earn scammers a high profit if enough people fall for the scam.
Congratulations!
Today, you have been randomly selected to take this survey. It will only take a minute and you will receive an amazing prize: Apple iPhone 13!
Like every Tuesday, we offer amazing prizes to 10 users. Today’s prize is an Apple iPhone 13! Only 10 lucky users living in United Kingdom will be the winners!
This survey is conducted to improve the services provided to our users, and your participation will be 100% rewarded!
You only have 1 Minutes 08 Seconds to complete this survey.
Hurry up, the prizes are limited!
Giveaway scams are relatively easy to identify. The most important thing to note is that companies like Walmart, Google, Facebook, Amazon, etc. do not host these types of giveaways. And if they were to do one, they would announce it through legitimate means rather than random advertisements on dubious websites. Always assume that advertisements that claim you have won something are scams in the future. Technically, ads promoting giveaway scams are safe as long as you don’t interact with them. However, falling for such scams could result in money loss.
Why are you redirected to giveaway scams?
Many factors can cause unexpected redirects to Cityratetod.live and other sites hosting scams. However, if you browse high-risk websites, they are most likely the trigger for redirects. Users always encounter a barrage of ads when they visit certain high-risk websites. For example, if you click anywhere on a website that has pirated or pornographic content, a redirect would most likely be triggered. A good adblocker program can easily handle these unwanted redirects. The adblocker program would also prevent other annoying adverts (pop-ups, banners, and so forth).
Your computer may be infected with adware if you frequently find yourself redirected to Cityratetod.live and other suspicious websites while visiting safe and mostly ad-free websites. Adware is a rather obvious infection because its primary symptom is never-ending ads and random redirects.
Free software frequently comes with extra offers like adware and browser hijackers. This is known as the software bundling method. Because it essentially permits minor infections like adware to install without express permission, the method is rather controversial. When an adware infection is attached to a program you are installing, it would be able to install automatically without you even knowing. It’s not surprising that anti-virus software flags programs that use software bundling as potentially dangerous given that it’s a dubious installation technique.
If you install free programs correctly, you can easily avoid these potentially unwanted installations. The most crucial thing to keep in mind is that you need to select Advanced (Custom) settings during installation rather than Default (Basic). All added offers will be concealed and allowed to install alongside if you select Default, as the installation window recommends. On the other hand, if you choose Advanced settings, you will make all added offers visible and have the option to deselect everything. Whenever an offer is added to a program you are installing, always deselect it.
At first sight, the extra offers could seem helpful, but permitting them to install will just cause more problems. These useless programs do nothing but clutter up your computer and create issues. Furthermore, unchecking a few boxes during program installation is far simpler than trying to remove adware or other persistent infections after they have been fully installed.
How to stop Cityratetod.live redirects
To check for adware, it’s a good idea to do an anti-virus scan of your computer. Using an anti-virus program is the most straightforward way to find and get rid of adware. Install a good adblocker program if it’s not adware that’s redirecting you but rather the high-risk websites you browse. This is especially crucial if you frequently access risky websites. Along with preventing random redirects, an adblocker program would also stop annoying pop-up advertisements. All in all, if you want to have a good browsing experience, you need to use an adblocker program.
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