Phishing Scam Viewer Worries Get Linden Lab's Attention

 

It's a sad fact that the Internet is full of scammers. And unfortunately some have come to Second Life.  There's been some news going around recently about one particular phishing scam: a viewer that will supposedly give you unlimited Lindens, and allow you to build anywhere.

Hello,

Are you tired of spending your hard-earned Linden Dollars? We've got an exciting solution just for you! Introducing our SecondLive Viewer, where everything is not only free but also open for endless possibilities.

• Unlock unlimited Linden Dollars (L$) for all your virtual adventures.
• Fly to unlimited heights.
• Build on any land of your choice, all for free.

But that's just the beginning.

Link: <Some URL, typically a tinyurl link>

We're sincerely thankful to everyone who joins us in our mission to make SecondLife completely free. Don't miss this incredible opportunity.

Best Regards.

Most residents would recognize right away these claims are bogus. Viewers can't create Linden dollars, only Linden Lab's computers can do that. One would have to hack into them, and keep hacking to get the virtual money, which would not only be extremely difficult, but easily discovered and traced. Nor can your viewer determine which land you can build on - the permissions of who can and can't are stored in the servers.

Firestorm would express worries of copybot viewers last month before I personally started hearing about the forementioned scam. The scam itself I first heard about when a few people passed me a link to a post made by FelixWolf on GitHub, who would be identified by Inara Pey of Modem World as Chaser Zaks of Team Firestorm who "risked taking a look under the covers of the code that is supplied."

What the viewer actually does is run a program called builddata.bat on your computer, which installs a number of remote administrative toolkits (or RATs). Once your machine is infested with these RATs, the scammer can:

Steal your Linden dollars and go through your inventory

Steal your password and hijack your account, and whatever they do, people (and Linden Lab) will think it's you.

Go into your computer and steal/delete your files.

 

Steal your banking and credit card information, and steal your real-world money, and possibly ruin your credit.

 

Discover real-life information on you, such as your city and street address. 

 

Activate your camera and take pictures of you and the contents of your room. If they get your real-life location, they may know where to find valuable items to steal. 

Last Thursday, Linden Lab would feel the need to remind it's residents of the dangers of phishing scams in general, "Ensuring A Secure Second Life Experience." It brought up this particular viewer, "

It is important to remember that downloading software from unknown sources has a very real risk associated with it. You could unintentionally allow someone to monitor your keystrokes or even gain complete control over your computer. It has the potential to expose not just your Second Life password, but all other important information you have on your computer. ... Be wary of suspicious links or attachments sent by other users. These may be attempts to compromise your account or computer. ... Only download and install the official Second Life viewer, or an approved Third-Party viewer directly from the links provided by our site."

 

So once again, a reminder that one needs to be a little wary when going about Second Life (and the Internet in general), and don't let yourself get a RAT infestation. 

 

Bixyl Shuftan 

General Warning

Although most of you probably know this already, I'd like to remind all: DO NOT ACCEPT GIFTS OR ITEMS FROM AVATARS YOU DON'T KNOW. There have been many scams going around the last few weeks where stranger avatars try to give seemingly attractive items away -- these are dangerous objects! They can often ask you for permissions to take lindens, or give control of your avatar to another. Others are griefing objects that will disrupt sims.

Do not accept these items.

In ROMA group by Angelia Rees

Eye on the Blog: "An Important Reminder About Account Security"

The following was posted by Linden Lab yesterday.

It has come to our attention that some Residents are sending messages - which may appear as popup windows in some viewers - informing other Residents that their accounts have been compromised and encouraging them to contact Support, using a phone number that is not associated with Linden Lab.

 

These messages are phishing attempts to gain access to your Second Life account. Neither Linden Lab, nor Second Life Customer Support, would attempt to contact you in this manner. You can always find Linden Lab’s official customer support contact methods within the following links:

 

https://support.secondlife.com/billing-support/

https://support.secondlife.com/contact-support/

 

As always, please be wary of suspicious messages and contact from other users. If you believe your account has been compromised, please contact us via support case at https://support.secondlife.com/

Hat Tip: Fuzzball Ortega 

Cartoon of the Day: An Arrested Valentine

Looks like "Clumsy Cooper" just can't stay out of trouble, though this time the arresting officer's a lot friendlier.

This was actually taken at a "Cops & Robbers" party, with special thanks to the DJ.

Happy (Belated) Valentines Day

Bixyl Shuftan

Phishing Scam

Xymbers Slade recently found something in one of his groups, "Just got this out of one of the Mentor groups I'm a part of --- those scammers just never seem to give up. So spread the word, that this one's a scam."


Dear Second Life user,

Due our latest IP Security upgrades we have limited access to sensitive Second Life account features.
Protecting the security of your account is our primary concern
We understand that this may be an inconvenience.
Please understand that this temporary limitation is for your protection.

How can I restore my account access?

Please download the form attached to this email and open it in a web browser.
Once opened, you will be provided with steps to update your account.
We appreciate your understanding as we work to
ensure account safety.

If we detect a sign in with your username from another country we may decide that we want to
confirm that it's really you. You must complete all steps otherwise you will not be able to use
the online service until we have completed additional security checks.


We apologize for any inconvenience

Copyright 2011 Linden Research, Inc. Linden Lab 945 Battery St. San Francisco, CA 94111


It should be reminded that it's not just Mentor groups open to such swindels, but any with open enrollment.