I WENT DOWN THE VOCAL MEDIA PHISHING RABBIT HOLE

I WENT DOWN THE VOCAL MEDIA PHISHING RABBIT HOLE, AND NOW SOMEBODY NEEDS TO PUT ME ON THE PAYROLL!

I started out trying to figure out why some fake-ass account was leaving suspicious comments under my stories. Several links, multiple redirects, security warnings, and one very long internet rabbit hole later, I'm beginning to think I need an official Vocal Media badge, a desk, and direct deposit.

Listen.

I was supposed to be writing.

That's what I do. I'm a writer. I write stories. I publish them. I check my views. I occasionally sit around wondering why an article I spent three hours writing got 12 views while something I threw together in 20 minutes is suddenly acting like it has a damn publicist.

You know. Normal writer shit.

What I was NOT supposed to be doing was investigating some suspicious-ass account pretending to be Vocal Media Support.

But here we are.

And when I tell you I have gone down a rabbit hole, I mean I have gone so far down this motherfucker that Alice is probably sitting somewhere wondering why the hell I'm taking so long.

At this point, Vocal Media needs to put me on the payroll. I don't know what the position would be called. Director of Don't Be Clicking That Shit? Senior Vice President of Mind Your Damn Links? Chief Investigator of Who the Hell Is This?

I'll take any of them.

Just make sure the check clears.

It started with a comment. Of course it did.

A few days ago? No. Let me get the timeline right. This started TODAY.

An account calling itself "Vocal Support Team" began leaving comments underneath my stories. The message basically suggested there was something wrong with my account and that I needed to follow a link to verify it.

Now, first of all, who the hell are you?

Second, why are you in my comment section?

And third, since when did Vocal Media start handling account-security issues by sending random people into writers' comment sections like they're passing out coupons at the grocery store?

If there's a problem with my account, I would expect an official notification through an established communication channel.

Not some mystery account sliding underneath my article like it has a warrant.

I was suspicious immediately.

Then the comments kept coming.

One story. Another story. Another damn story.

By the time I finished checking, approximately ten of my stories had been hit with the same general message.

TEN.

Apparently, somebody looked at my writing portfolio and decided it was the perfect place to start a damn phishing convention.

And that's when my curiosity got the better of me.

Because I have questions.

And when I have questions, sometimes I need to leave the keyboard alone.

Unfortunately, this was not one of those times.

The links started changing, and so did my attitude.

At first, I noticed one shortened link that included the words "vocal" and "verify."

Then I found another version that included "vocal-media."

Then another.

And just when I thought I had seen enough, I found one where the word "verify" wasn't even completely spelled out.

Somebody apparently got tired halfway through typing.

What is this? A phishing operation with a character limit?

Did the person behind this account run out of letters? Was the keyboard malfunctioning? Did autocorrect finally decide it wasn't participating in criminal-looking internet nonsense?

I don't know.

But I started noticing that the links weren't all identical.

And that matters.

Because when somebody is repeatedly pretending to represent a company, changing the wording of the links is something worth examining.

So I stopped treating this like an annoying comment problem.

I started treating it like an investigation.

And let me tell you, I was not prepared for how much clicking around on legitimate research sites I was about to do.

I took those links somewhere they could be examined.

Now, before anybody gets excited, NO, I did not sit there clicking suspicious links to see what would happen.

I'm curious, not stupid.

There is a difference.

And here's something else worth mentioning: my daughter has a cybersecurity certification. So cybersecurity isn't just some random subject that suddenly appeared on my radar today. I have a personal connection to someone who has pursued credentials in this field. I'm not claiming that makes me a cybersecurity expert, and I'm not claiming she personally analyzed these links. But I do take this subject seriously, and I'm certainly not going to treat suspicious account activity like it's harmless internet nonsense.

Instead, I used an independent online security-analysis service to examine the addresses.

I submitted the links and started looking at the reports.

And there they were.

Two security vendors, Bkav and Webroot, classified the submitted link as malicious. Other vendors returned clean results.

Now, I know somebody is going to say, "Well, if other vendors said clean, what's the problem?"

The problem is that a clean result is not a magical certificate from the Internet Gods declaring that everybody can go ahead and click whatever the hell they want.

Security services can disagree. A link can also change behavior or destinations. One report is not enough to establish every detail.

But two malicious classifications were enough to make me say, "Well, damn. That's interesting."

And I wasn't finished.

Because the report showed something else.

It showed the redirection chain.

For those who don't know, that is basically the trail of addresses a link travels through before reaching its final destination.

In other words, I wasn't just looking at the pretty little name somebody put in front of the link.

I was looking at where it actually went.

And THAT is where things got interesting.

Excuse me, why are we taking the scenic route?

One of the reports showed this sequence:

- First stop: "tr.ee/vocal-media"

- Second stop: "tinyurl.com/vocal-media"

- Third stop: an unfamiliar domain ending in ".sbs"

- Final destination: "httpbin.org"

Now, I don't know about you, but if somebody tells me they're Vocal Media Support, I don't expect their verification link to take a damn road trip through several unrelated addresses.

Where are we going?

Do I need a passport?

Is there a layover?

Are we stopping for gas?

Because I thought we were verifying a Vocal Media account, not taking the scenic route through the internet.

And here's the important part: the final destination shown in that report was HTTPBin, a legitimate service commonly used for testing web requests.

That does NOT prove the entire chain is safe.

It also does NOT prove that somebody successfully stole anyone's login information.

I'm not going to make claims I can't support.

What I can say is that the report showed multiple redirects, including an unfamiliar third-party domain that was not Vocal Media.

And that is enough reason to keep your damn hands off those links.

Meanwhile, I'm comparing links like I'm on an episode of CSI: Comment Section.

Remember, there were different versions of these links.

So I started examining them separately.

I wanted to know whether the different addresses followed the same route or whether they behaved differently.

Because apparently, I now have a new hobby.

I used to scroll through my comments looking for people discussing my stories.

Now I'm looking for suspicious shortened URLs like somebody assigned me a case number.

"Enhance the link!"

Somebody please take my laptop away.

But seriously, I wanted to distinguish what I could actually establish from what I was only suspecting.

I can document the different link variations.

I can document the security-vendor findings.

I can document the redirect chain shown in the report.

What I cannot honestly tell you yet is who created the account, whether all the links lead to the same place, or exactly what the person behind them intends to do.

And I'm not going to make up answers just because a good internet mystery deserves a dramatic ending.

Although, if this were a movie, I would absolutely be demanding a better soundtrack by now.

And apparently, my comment section wasn't the only crime scene.

While I was investigating, other Vocal writers started speaking up.

One writer reported that nearly 100 of their stories had been hit.

ANOTHER WRITER REPORTED MULTIPLE COMMENTS UNDER A SINGLE STORY.

I've also heard from several other writers who said they were experiencing similar activity.

Now, I cannot independently verify every report or tell you exactly how many writers have been affected.

But when one person reports suspicious comments under ten stories, another reports nearly 100, and other writers start saying, "Wait a minute, this is happening to me too," I think it's time somebody at Vocal Media pays attention.

Because what the hell?

Are we writing stories or participating in some kind of involuntary cybersecurity experiment?

I don't remember agreeing to that.

I clicked publish.

I did not click "Enroll me in the Mystery Link Investigation Program."

Let me tell you what NOT to do.

If you see a comment claiming your account has been flagged, restricted, suspended, or needs verification, don't panic and don't follow the link.

Don't let an official-sounding username fool you.

Don't assume a link is legitimate just because somebody shoved the words "Vocal Media" into the address.

And please, for the love of everything you hold dear, don't enter your password into some mystery page because a stranger in your comment section told you to.

Go directly to Vocal Media through its official website.

Check your account there.

Contact the platform through its official channels.

Take screenshots of suspicious comments before reporting them. Save the wording, the account name, and the different links.

And if you see the same activity, let other writers know.

We can be a community without becoming a community of people handing their passwords to strangers.

Thank you.

Vocal Media, I have a few questions. And possibly a résumé.

Now, I want to talk to Vocal Media for a minute.

Because while I've apparently been appointed Detective Dakota of the Internet Police Department, I would really like to know what the actual platform is doing about these accounts.

Are these comments being investigated?

Can the accounts responsible be identified and removed?

Is there a way to report repeated suspicious comments across multiple stories?

Can writers receive an official warning about this activity?

And can somebody please explain why writers are having to investigate suspicious links underneath their own work?

I'm not asking Vocal Media to hand me a badge and a flashlight.

Although, again, I am available.

I'm asking for communication.

Writers deserve to know whether the platform is aware of this activity and what steps are being taken to protect their accounts.

Because we put work into these portfolios.

We spend hours writing, editing, publishing, promoting, and trying to build an audience.

Some of us have hundreds of stories sitting on this platform.

That's not just a collection of links. That's time. That's creativity. That's work.

And I'm not about to let some random account with a fake support-team name come along and potentially put all of that at risk.

I came here to write, not investigate the damn internet.

Here's the funny part.

I originally just wanted to know why somebody kept leaving suspicious comments underneath my stories.

That's it.

A normal person might have reported the account, closed the browser, and gone back to writing.

But nooooo.

Not me.

I had to know where the links went.

Then I had to compare them.

Then I had to examine the reports.

Then I had to look at the redirects.

Then other writers started reporting the same thing, and now I'm mentally organizing evidence like somebody is about to call me into a congressional hearing.

Somebody at Vocal Media is going to open their inbox and see my name again and say, "Oh, Lord. What has she found now?"

I don't know.

But I'm finding it.

And if I have to keep investigating, somebody better at least send me an employee handbook.

I have already done enough unpaid overtime.

The bottom line: I'm not playing around with my work.

Jokes aside, I take this seriously.

I don't know who is behind these accounts. I don't know whether every variation of the link leads to the same destination. And I don't have evidence proving that anyone's account has actually been compromised.

But I do know what I've personally experienced.

I know approximately ten of my stories received suspicious comments.

I know the links appeared in multiple variations.

I know the security reports flagged the submitted link as malicious through two vendors.

I know one report showed a chain of multiple redirects, including an unfamiliar third-party domain.

And I know other writers have reported similar activity.

That's enough for me to speak up.

So, if you're a Vocal writer, check your stories. Check your comments. Be careful with unsolicited account-verification messages.

And if you've seen these comments, document and report them.

I'm going to continue sharing what I can verify because writers deserve to know what is happening around their accounts.

As for me?

I'm going back to writing.

At least, that's what I keep telling myself.

But if another suspicious comment appears underneath one of my stories, I cannot promise I won't put on my imaginary detective hat and start asking questions again.

Vocal Media, my résumé is ready.

Pinky and the Brain can keep trying to take over the world.

I'm just trying to keep somebody from taking over my damn account.

— Dakota Denise | Vocal Media