Beware skype "upgrade your OS" phishing scam
PostPosted: Wed Dec 23, 2009 9:42 pm
Hey guys,
I just received an unsolicited skype request to "upgrade my windows OS." The only real problem here is - I don't HAVE windows. This appears to be a pretty common scareware scam. These jerks pray on unsuspecting people, trying to make them think that a "system scan" has discovered "vulnerabilities" on their system. If you go to their site, they'll infect your machine, and in some cases ask you to buy the software on their server - which instead of fixing your machine will infect it with malware.
If you've already seen this, move right along. If you haven't seen it yet, please be aware that you may see something like this if you have skype. Do yourself a favor and BLOCK the user IMMEDIATELY (check the "report abuse from this user" box) and don't click on any links!!! In many cases you can be infected just by visiting the site (via something called drive-by-downloads of malware).
Here's a few links to check out if you are interested in more information.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/10/06/scareware_skype/
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Fake-Antivirus-Distributed-Through-Skype-Spam-123536.shtml
Here's a snippit of the message that came through:
I just received an unsolicited skype request to "upgrade my windows OS." The only real problem here is - I don't HAVE windows. This appears to be a pretty common scareware scam. These jerks pray on unsuspecting people, trying to make them think that a "system scan" has discovered "vulnerabilities" on their system. If you go to their site, they'll infect your machine, and in some cases ask you to buy the software on their server - which instead of fixing your machine will infect it with malware.
If you've already seen this, move right along. If you haven't seen it yet, please be aware that you may see something like this if you have skype. Do yourself a favor and BLOCK the user IMMEDIATELY (check the "report abuse from this user" box) and don't click on any links!!! In many cases you can be infected just by visiting the site (via something called drive-by-downloads of malware).
Here's a few links to check out if you are interested in more information.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/10/06/scareware_skype/
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Fake-Antivirus-Distributed-Through-Skype-Spam-123536.shtml
Here's a snippit of the message that came through:
[12/23/09 9:14:40 PM] software.updates.005: URGENT SYSTEM SCAN NOTIFICATION ! PLEASE READ CAREFULLY !!
http://nnnnnnn/
For the link to become active, please click on 'Add to contacts' skype button or type it in manually into your web browser !
FULL DETAILS OF SCAN RESULT BELOW
****************************************
WINDOWS REQUIRES IMMEDIATE ATTENTION
ATTENTION ! Security Center has detected
malware on your computer !
Affected Software:
Microsoft Windows Vista
Microsoft Windows XP
Microsoft Windows 2000
Microsoft Windows Server 2003
Impact of Vulnerability: Remote Code Execution / Virus Infection /
Unexpected shutdowns
Recommendation: Users running vulnerable version should install a repair utility immediately
Your system IS affected, download the patch from the address below !
Failure to do so may result in severe computer malfunction.
http://nnnnnn/
For the link to become active, please click on 'Add to contacts' skype button or type it in manually into your web browser!