Sounds like they’re using the theme to make money off of your site with ads. Try deleting them (WP themes are GPL, so deleting them is perfectly ethical) and see what it does. They may just be trying to scare you into leaving them. What theme is it?
teckn1caLity,
This sounds fishy to me. Try removing them and see what happens, I agree with micahcooksey.
teckn1caLity,
Just ran across this article, a little wordy but skip to the bottom portion for a walk through.
http://themebot.com/tips-and-tutorials/how-to-remove-encrypted-footer-links-in-free-wordpress-themes
Sounds like you used a site that distributes malicious code in themes.
There’s lots of these sites about. Any theme with any form of encoding should be avoided… there’s no telling what other changes have been made…
Perhaps a 0 was swapped for a 1 somewhere (poor example i know), opening you up to some vunerability… but would not otherwise be noticed unless you were looking… there’s just too much room for bad intent when you download these themes.
Use the theme respository here for peace of mind.
Although once you know the theme name, google it, you might find the original source (some of these sites distribute knock-offs, with modifications, of other peoples work).
It’s comparable to buying a car off a guy who is known for dealing in stolen vehicles, he might sell you a legit car, but then again, he probably won’t… why take the risk?
That is the only line of code that is fishy/encrypted throughout the entire themes files. Thanks for all the responses.
As far as you know, or do you have experience with PHP? …
Just because other areas are not encrypted does not mean they have not been modified.
That’s what I came up with and when I go to delete the footer2 div I get the Creative Commons License error on my site and I am forced to put it back. I have some experience with php t31os but not much at all.
<div class="span-24">
<div id="footer">Copyright © <a href="http://none"><strong>FPS Insider</strong></a> - Strictly FPS</div>
<div id="footer2">Powered by <a href="http://wordpress.org/"><strong>WordPress</strong></a> | <a href="http://none">BlackBerry for Sale</a> with Wireless Plans | Thanks to <a href="http://none/">iCellPhoneDeals.com Verizon Phones</a>, <a href="http://none">Free MMORPG Games</a> and <a href="http://none">Fat burning furnace review</a></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<!-- AdSense Manager v3.3.3 (0.237 seconds.) -->
</body>
[Moderated]: Spammy addresses removed from code
Like i said already, unless you have an ability to read the code, then there’s really no sure way to know you’re safe using the theme, do you honestly believe the risk is worth it?
The best i advice i can give you on this matter is to seek a better source for themes, such as the repository here..
NOTE: Please try to refrain from posting code including the spam links, the last thing i/we want to do is generate more traffic for them.
