Moviesjoy Website — Is It Safe?

Moviesjoy is a free movie streaming service – another one among dozens of popular ones on the Internet. It offers users to watch even the latest titles without any payment – at least a direct one. At least this action is outlawed, as it goes against copyright law. However, the ways it uses to monetise your presence on the page are also the point of concern. Using it may end up with malware installation on your PC, and that is not just a scary story. Let me explain to you why the Moviesjoy site is a potentially dangerous site to use.

What is the Moviesjoy site?

Moviesjoy (hosted on a moviesjoy[.]to URL) is a site that offers its visitors to watch popular movies for free. They often have poor image quality, bad voice acting, or both things simultaneously. Sometimes, you can find so-called “camrips” – just the recordings from a pocket camera made in a cinema. Watching them is not very pleasant and obviously illegal. It is quite hard to find and punish someone for using such resources, but it is still possible. On the other hand, website owners can easily be traced and imprisoned – so they will try to squeeze the maximum profit from their activity.

The main page of Moviesjoy page

And here comes the main problem of these websites. Since their activities are outlawed, and there is no way to use “classic” methods of monetisation (subscriptions for instance), they seek a way to earn a coin through advertisements. The originators of those ads may be any – from some kind of genuine and benevolent ad services to “gray” or even frankly malicious. You can meet the banners which offer you to buy a new iPhone for only $49, or a “generous giveaway from a new shop on wish.com”. But sometimes, things may get even worse.

Moviesjoy.to site redirects to malicious pages

Aside from integrated advertising, the Moviesjoy site can sometimes redirect the user to a “sponsor page” – the site which paid the former for promotions. At least the fact that a site opens another one should be the reason to raise suspicion. This kind of promotion is considered dangerous by a large number of cybersecurity vendors. It may end up in a drive-by download, or any other nasty thing that is related to redirection to an unknown site. In particular, moviesjoy[.]to site is known for redirection to fake giveaway pages and support scams.

Fake giveaways is an old-but-gold phishing technique that grabs your personal details (up to payment information). Getting an Amazon $1000 gift card may be attractive, but what is too good to be true – is likely untrue. It can have different disguises, but the result will always be the same – your personal information will be stolen and used for your bad.

$1000 Amazon GiftCard scam is an example of the Movesjoy redirection

Tech support scams are even more dangerous, as they may lead to malware installation. These sites aim at scaring you by stating you have a virus on your PC. To solve the problem, they offer you to contact what is supposed to be genuine Microsoft tech support – by the number specified on a page. Once dialed this phone number, you will hear fishy instructions – like installing the third-party software or giving the “experts” remote access to your PC. After these manipulations, you will likely have malware (or rogue software), or your data will be stolen – or even both things simultaneously.

Microsoft tech support scam page

Is the Moviesjoy site dangerous?

As it was mentioned, watching pirated movies are outlawed, and you can face legal consequences afterward. However, a much more probable and sensible hazard is the one that goes from the sites moviesjoy.to redirects you to. Malware will surely earn money on you in this or another way. Rogue software will take your money for solving illusory problems, which in fact never existed. Sure, using it does not equate to getting into those problems, but you never know how sly the site administrators may be. It is strongly recommended to avoid this site and a bunch of others with a similar sense.

Another recommendation for the users who visited this site is to scan your device with anti-malware software. It should be taken especially seriously if you have ever followed the advice on a redirect site – since it is already a security concern. If you value your privacy and don’t want to face some serious problems with your PC in the future, it is better to perform a checkup. GridinSoft Anti-Malware will be your best choice for that purpose – it has a very effective scanning mechanism, and also offers a free trial¹.

Removing viruses with GridinSoft Anti-Malware

• Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware. After the installation, you will be offered to perform the Standard Scan. Approve this action.
• Standard scan checks the logical disk where the system files are stored, together with the files of programs you have already installed. The scan lasts up to 6 minutes.
• When the scan is over, you may choose the action for each detected virus. For all malware, the default option is “Delete”. Press “Apply” to finish the malware removal.

References

1. GridinSoft Anti-Malware review from HowToFix site experts.