- Skype Spammers Promoting Rogue Antispyware Tool
There's an interesting bit of activity taking place on the Skype network lately. In fact, it seems to have been around for a couple of months in various guises, but things really seem to have taken off recently for this particular scam if the amount of complaints on forums and blogs is anything to go by.
Want to take a look?
Sure you do. If you happen to go searching on the Skype userlist, you might happen to come across something similar to this:
That's an awful lot of people with the same username - if you happen to be using Skype and minding your own business, you might be surprised to find that the following text message is sent to you:
As you can see, the message reads:
"WINDOWS REQUIRES IMMEDIATE ATTENTION
============================
ATTENTION ! Security Center has detected malware on your computer !
Affected Software:
Microsoft Windows NT Workstation
Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0
Microsoft Windows 2000
Microsoft Windows XP
Microsoft Windows Win98
Microsoft Windows Server 2003
Impact of Vulnerability: Remote Code Execution / Virus Infection /
Unexpected shutdowns
Your system IS affected, download the patch from the address below NOW!"
Anyone clicking the link in the screenshot will actually be taken to a "patch" that (mysteriously) neither looks like a patch or indeed comes for free.
....oh dear, that doesn't look good...
That's even worse - because I have three entirely non-existent threats on my PC. However, if I decide to "remove" them....
....my "patch" suddenly costs $19.95. "Scan & Repair Utilities" is on the Spywarewarrior Rogue Antispyware List. Steer clear of these messages and never download anything sent to you by random contacts, whether on Skype or anything else.
