I’ve been tagged and told about this about a million times since last night (but not really)…

So, here’s what’s up. 

Recently, it has been discovered by many Wattpad users that there is a site mirroring Wattpad itself with the intent to… spread viruses/malware, I guess, and everyone has been going absolutely insane over it.

I mean, yes, I’ll admit I freaked out quite a bit over it at first, too, but really… there’s not too much to panic about. The website is not plagiarizing writer’s work or infringing individual story copyrights… it’s just that they are copying Wattpad writer’s stories to their own website, one with their own logo independent of Wattpad, and using the stories to lure readers in and infect their computers/phones/tablets/what have you with malware. Which… yes, is very annoying to both writers and readers alike.

There’s a simple solution to the problem, though… just don’t go to the website.  

Oh, and warn others about it, too. Which is mainly why I’m here writing about this today.

So, here’s my personal PSA for the day… if you want to read any of my work, do it only through Wattpad. I don’t really know how you would get onto this other website without knowing about it to read my stuff anyway, but just to keep y’all safe… don’t go anywhere other than Wattpad.

(With the exception of the list of retail websites you can download my ebook, Cartoon, from my work’s page.)

Also, this one specific website looks pretty sketchy, too… and it’s formatted for the Vietnamese language, so I really don’t think you’d want to use it anyway.

Now… I know I said don’t go on this website and risk catching a cold or virus or whatever, but… I know y’all might still be curious as to what it looks like (because I was, too), so I took it upon myself to risk infiltration and get some screen shots.

But not really, though… I used a very secure connection and had anti-virus things on to protect myself, so don’t be too concerned for me. I know how to play it safe.

Again, though… I’d highly advise you just avoid the website, unless you do really, really want to go onto to it and give yourself the protection you need.

Otherwise, though, here’s the screenshots I took so you don’t have to!

The home page, I guess, though I have no clue what it all says and think it does look a tad sketchy… 

My short story, Red, on the site.

Here’s a shot I took through Google Translate, so you could see a bit of what was actually being said. 

And here’s a shot of the screen when you try to read a story… this one being mine, Cry Murder. 

…And here’s where I got a little confused. I found most of these links to my work on the site through Google, and they all linked to the main site that it seems everyone is talking about, TrangDocTruyen, but these next few were links to a different site, TruyenFun. Both are in Vietnamese, though, and look similar enough I suppose… but no one really seemed to mention the latter one, so I’m not sure what’s up with it.

Still, though, I wouldn’t risk going to it, either.

My story, Cry Murder, on TruyenFun. 

And another shot I took of the ‘related stories’ category, proving that these sites were both mirrored from Wattpad itself. Also… you can see my poems book, Holding onto Stars on this website (and in this picture), but not the other (and I did actually search for it), though I’m not exactly sure why, since it is mirrored and all stories should show up…

So, there you have it. Pretty much all you need to see and know about this malware mirror site to Wattpad.

And, yes, Wattpad Headquarters are working on this issue currently and have the goal of removing these sites from the web… though it obviously won’t be changed overnight, so no need to spam them about the issue any further. Also, this has actually been an issue probably last November or so now (or so I’m told) and it’s nothing new to Headquarters, but the community has recently discovered it and the site itself is gaining traffic and popularity now.

So, again, I advise you don’t risk visiting the sites… unless you really want to, I guess, and I can’t stop you, but… yeah, I wouldn’t do it.

And so… stay safe, everyone, and be aware of these issues!

Let me know, fellow Wattpaders, how this issue has affected you and what your thoughts are!

-iKari