Reader Submitted: Fake SL Login Screen

 

 From The Orange Floof (FriendlyDaWusky Resident). This is an image of what looks like an SL login screen. But checking the Internet address, one can see this is a fake. This was almost certainly meant to to was to get passwords and account names as a "phishing" scheme, then hack the account and swipe all their Lindens.

 

A reminder to be careful when clicking on strange links, and double check what you're logging into.

  

 

 

 

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 

Invisiprim Scammer Trick Story Going Around

In real life, many of us check ATM machines for "skimmers" before using them. To those of you who don't know, these are false fronts attached over an ATM's card slot by hackers, which scan the cards as they're going in and read account and PIN numbers. With this in mind, it was probably inevitable someone would find a way to scam Second Life shoppers. Yesterday, this was posted in one group I'm in, and saw something similar in the Second Life Friends Facebook group.

I have read in some groups that scammers are now going to events and stores. They place large invisible prims over the vendors, so when you pay the vendor for an item you want to purchase, you are actually paying money to the scammer and you will not receive the item you payed for. ALWAYS check and double check that you are paying the correct person.

One trick would be to 'Highlight Transparent' to see if there is anything transparent over the vendor. If you use Firestorm, go to the 'Advanced' menu ---> Highlighting and Visibility ---> Highlight Transparent (or 'Ctrl + Alt + T' on your keyboard). If you see a red semi-transparent prim hanging over the vendor you might want to cam in behind it to the actual vendor or not buy it until the prim has been removed.

You may also want to alert the real vendor.

So if anything seems amiss with the vendors while shopping, check them over.

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