A few weeks ago we decided to allow advertising on the site so we could "pay the rent", and we selected a provider that would provide relevant ads on each of our pages.  While we've found that the ad-delivery engine has done a good job of serving contextual ads on the site, we've also found a few suspicious advertisers.  We'd like to thank many of you for notifying us about these, and we are taking steps to filter them from the site.  If you see an ad that looks suspicious, DON'T click it (we don't want their money).  Instead, contact us and let us know the URL that was displayed below the ad.  Please also report the link to the Watchlist and include "adscam" as one of your tags.

In most cases, the ads are for quality businesses.  For example, for a recently reported phishing site we saw ads for businesses that specialize in warning people about the dangers of phishing emails and how to report them.  Another was for the federal government's anti-fraud task force, and Citi's identity-protection services.

But there have been some bad apples, and when we either see them or receive an email you, here's what we do:

1. We filter them from our site, which is a permanent fix.

2. We notify the ad networks that these are sketchy businesses and should be investigated.

3. We place them on a list of sites to be reported to our Watchlist.  This helps because many third-party businesses rely on our site database to make the internet a safer place. 

So, I'm glad to say that while its unfortunate to see these sites advertising on MatrixWatch, we're using it as an opportunity to rid the net of these types of scammy businesses.  Oh, and if you're the owner of a fly-by-night scam business, it would be a good idea to remove our URL from your ad-serving list.  We're coming for you.