Bypass Blocked Sites (No VPN)
Many websites today — especially those built on platforms like Wix — offer tools that let admins block access from specific countries, TOR networks, or even known VPN services. Visit such a site from a blocklisted country or through a VPN, and your access might be denied or redirected to a custom error page, like a "fake" 404.
These tools are common in the West. They typically work by detecting your IP address, checking which country it belongs to, and whether it matches known VPN or anonymizer services. Some go a step further, blocking entire IP ranges or checking for unusual browser behavior.
To bypass something, you first need to understand it.
That's exactly the approach we take in our China OSINT methods. Most of these blocking tools rely on fairly straightforward logic: if your IP matches a certain list — based on location or known proxies — you're blocked. Simple. So let's think out of the box, like a pentester.
The test
We came across a site running an app called Blocky (offered on Wix — you can find many alternatives too). When we accessed it using a standard VPN like NordVPN and the TOR browser, it immediately redirected us to a custom 404 error page set by the site admin. As expected, nothing loaded. But then we tried some more creative solutions. We ran tests using five methods and are sharing two here — one of which is never mentioned in OSINT circles, and it worked.
Method 1: a privacy-focused browser
The first method was surprisingly simple. We accessed the site using a privacy-focused browser — Brave. Not TOR. No VPN. Just Brave with its default settings. And it worked: the site opened normally. Why? Likely because privacy browsers handle DNS resolution differently, don't aggressively expose your device fingerprint, and tweak request headers just enough to avoid being detected by simple blocking scripts. It isn't guaranteed to work every time, but for many sites using lightweight IP blockers, it's enough.
Method 2: a remote browser
The second method is more unique, and part of our own research. We used remote browser platforms — something most OSINT workflows completely ignore. These are "online cross-browser" tools where the browsing session happens in the cloud and the screen is streamed to your device — think Browserling or other virtual browsing tools, a little like a mini virtual machine.
When we accessed the restricted website through one of these, it loaded successfully. The traffic came from the provider's own infrastructure — usually cloud-based, not flagged, and not on the blocklists for TOR or VPNs. And these sessions don't behave like a normal browser session from a fingerprinting perspective, so most detection tools simply don't know what to do with them and allow them through.
Now you've learned these methods, and can use them too. If you want the full toolkit for getting the right access to hard-to-reach sources, that's the core of our China OSINT work.
