What do you call it when you click on a link

[margarete]

on a respectable website and you are not taken to the link but to a baddie link, is there a specific term for this? - You know, like phishing, for instance. - I clicked on a link which should have taken me to "2005 Whitbread Poetry Prize, Cold Calls", but instead took me to a page in Chinese or Japanese or some other oriental language and which seemed to be selling toiletries, despite the correct URL appearing on the address line.

[walkerx]

it is called phishing

 

you can also call it spoofing (where someone spoofs the address you are going to)

 

or you can call it malicious as that's what it is

 

but the most common term is phishing

[Sarkysod]

That sounds like web jacking to me.

[margarete]

Thank you for those suggestions, walkerx and Sarkysod.

[sccsux]

That sounds like web jacking to me.

 

Checking the whois records suggest the domain has a new owner (recent change). Looks like a domain hijack.

 

Domain name:

whitbread-bookawards.co.uk

 

Registrant:

kenji kadokura

 

Registrant type:

Non-UK Individual

 

Registrant's address:

334-56 tokunobu

hiratuka-shi

2540902

Japan

 

Registrar:

eNom, Inc. [Tag = ENOM]

URL: http://www.enom.com

 

Relevant dates:

Registered on: 26-Sep-2010

Renewal date: 26-Sep-2012

Last updated: 25-Aug-2011

 

Registration status:

Registered until renewal date.

 

Name servers:

ns1.dns.ne.jp

ns2.dns.ne.jp

[margarete]

That is such a helpful reply, sccsux. - Thank you very much.

 

It's a scary thought that that sort of thing can happen!

[BarryRiley]

it is called phishing

 

you can also call it spoofing (where someone spoofs the address you are going to)

 

or you can call it malicious as that's what it is

 

but the most common term is phishing

 

Phishing is attempting to gain details from someone through imitation and misrepresentation. This site seems to be attempting to sell its wares through dubious means

[Nazo]

This is not such an uncommon thing. The owner of a web site let's their domain expire, someone else buys it in the hope that people will end up there when they attempt to visit the old site.

It's annoying but not particularly malicious.