As a Skype Tips advisor, which most of you know me as, I was asked last night by Kim and a friend of hers to help them with a suspicious looking odd Skype message coming to Kim’s friend from someone not on her Skype contact list.
Update:
- He is at it again …here is what it looks like.
- Learn about the Skype Hacker File-Sending Virus here.
- Learn more about Scams online here – a good article about Internet Marketer or Millionare wanna be newbies by Chad Warren
I want to warn you all about this as it seems to be some kind of Skype fraud and maybe dangerous to click on the link. I am still investigating this. I noticed the message was sent from Skype name :
Warning Notice ®
I did a Skype contact search and there are 20 of them. I would suspect this as a sign of a spammer, with many identities and accounts. Any opinions? (Leave comments below) They are all in the USA and the 5 profiles I’ ve checked so far do not have anything in them … another sign of a spammer who does not want to be found or identified.
HOW TO RECOGNIZE IT
… and what to do and not do
If you see this skype message do not click the link. Just close the window and block the user. I’ll explain how later here, for now lets focus on how to recognize it. Though the message may change, (I have only seen it once so far from the one our friend got) … you may recognize this as it starts out …
———Message start like this ————
Warning Notice ® says: WINDOWS REQUIRES IMMEDIATE ATTENTION
=============================
ATTENTION ! Security Center has detected
malware on your computer ! …
——— end of my sample message start ———
… and then goes on to give a list of all MS operating systems and tells you … “your system IS effected” … (how would they know that via your skype… unlikely!!! Any opinions? Leave comments below) . Then this Skype message gives you a link to click to fix it. I suggest you …
DO NOT CLICK THE LINK!
I reported this to Skype via a Skype Support ticket. I’m hoping more of you will also report this in their forum and look to see it it was reported on the heartbeat. If any known issues are affecting Skype they will put information here. http://www.heartbeat.skype.com/
We did a safe look at the site and did not see evidents of virus or spammer links. However, to be safe… stay away…. is my suggestion for now. While text messages do not cary malware, clicking links can infect your computer. This is how emails can spread viruses and now instant messaging services like Skype. Just do not click the link.
I did place a call to the California phone number from a WhoIs search on the domain name in the link given and got a recorded message saying, “Box full, you can not leave a message”. We wonder if the guy’s box is full because he is in jail… just speculation though. to be fair, it is possible also that this is an innocent victim and this site owner is being hacked by a spammer as well.
Any opinions? Any one else seen anything about this?
Please leave comments below.
What You Can Do
Please do add yourself to my Skype Tips Skype room via my Skype Tips updates here. Anything you need help with related to Skype and list and relationship building, you can ask there and join the community of helpful people. And you can talk to me as well. Every time you ask for help, myself and so many people will be blessed to serve your needs. And each time I give a new Skype Tip you will get it! Many Skype Tips are from your questions.
Resources:
- Julie Wolf’s Skype Tips – Please join my Skype Tips room
- Check for known issues at Skype Heartbeat
- Skype Forum
- Send a Support ticket and access Skype knowledge base
- How to Block Unwanted Skype Contact
[...] A few months back we had this hoax on Skype, and now he is back….. Read this post for full details. [...]
I tried to google the link with hoax and it automatically started what looked like scanning…. thanks for this info.
I’ve received these messages on a regular basis:
Today
[5:29:14 PM] System Info ® says: 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
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://www.onlinemon.info/?q=scan
Really hope Skype will do something about this !
This is the 2nd message some one in our group got and this is identical to the first one Kim’s friend got… I have excluded the url for safety , but it is the same url in both identical messages. The only difference is the Skype name of the one sending it. (Warning Notice ® vs Soft Alarm ® ):
[2/27/2008 4:22:20 PM] Soft Alarm ® says: 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
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.
[[ url excluded as it is an executable which look sas if it will access your computer with a Virus Scan. ]]
Update: One women in our group showed me she got the same message and it looked identical accept not from this “Warning Notice ®” but from “Soft Alarm ®”. Like Warning Notice ®, when I did a search, I found about 20 versions almost identical to each other and to the ones from Warning Notice, accept for a # at the end and .ko, all from USA, language English, no picture and nothing else in the profile, no web site url. This “Warning Notice ®” Skype name, by the way was gone after I reported it to Skype. A search shows up empty now for “Warning Notice ®”. But for “Soft Alarm ®” there are 20, all also ending in .ko with numbers form 1 to 20, just like the “Warning Notice ®” one was. The web site url (link) in the message from this “Soft Alarm ®” Skype spam message, was the same as the first Skype spam message had, the one form “Warning Notice ®”. I still recommend that if you get this message, you DO NOT click the link and block the contact as instructed above (link to another post). Let me know if you get any more of these. I will keep you posted.