Maple Creative responds to the hijacking of the Marketing Genius blog

Jason Keeling helped Maple Creative develop this statement, which has also been released at the ABetterWestVirginia.com blog.

Here is Mapple Creative's entire statement:

Bloggers Beware: Award-Winning Site Hijacked

July 21, 2008 (Charleston, W.Va.) – Since 2004, marketing firm Maple Creative has been sharing professional insights and gaining national recognition via its “Marketing Genius” blog (marketinggenius.blogspot.com). This week, however, Internet cyber-jackers overtook the site and stripped its original content.

Maple Creative’s award-winning blog is now infected with solicitous ads that may be part of a phishing-type scam, according to Skip Lineberg, chief creative officer. He is warning the public not to click on any of the site’s links at present. “Even though I knew what to look for, they still duped me, and I lost my domain,” admits Lineberg. “I am urging all bloggers to be extra careful. I have always been very skeptical of email scams and bogus claims.”

Lineberg says the hackers may have portrayed themselves as Blogger.com representatives, and over the course of several correspondences, they somehow gained control of the “Marketing Genius” blog. Maple Creative is working to regain control of the site, which was hosted by Blogger.com, a subsidiary of Google, Inc. Lineberg contacted Google several days ago to assist in confirming what occurred and helping to rectify the situation. At present, he is still waiting for a response. ”We are going to use this as an opportunity to recover, rejuvenate and re-launch our marketing blog,” Lineberg promised. “Let me be perfectly clear. We will not be deterred by this incident. Instead, we will harness the power of social networks and call upon the tremendous voice of all our friends across the online community to help us prevail. ‘Marketing Genius’ will be up again, soon and stronger than ever.”

For now, readers are advised not to visit the site to avoid potential harm or exposure to malware that spammers have recently placed upon the domain MarketingGenius.blogspot.com. The company plans to notify readers when the blog is re-launched.

About Maple Creative
Maple Creative is a full-service marketing firm based in Charleston, West Virginia. To its diverse clientele Maple delivers comprehensive solutions, which comprise a strategic blend of marketing, advertising, public relations, lobbying and e-business services. Recently, “Advertising Age” recognized Maple’s “Marketing Genius” blog on its Power 150 listing of the most influential media and advertising blogs in the world.

For additional information, please visit MapleCreative.com.

If you had you blog taken over by spammer or if you know someone who had a blog taken over by spammers, please leave a comment or email me. I would like to talk to you.

David and I have left the listing of 'Marketing Genius from Maple Creative' on 304blogs in the hopes that Blogger who respond to Skip's request to give him his blog back soon. For now 'Marketing Genius from Maple Creative' is a listing on 304blogs with no post.