Meet Veronica, Sexy Skype Spammer
Maybe this is commonplace for others, but I've just got my first sex-chat-spam on Skype. It's from someone called Veronica Sexy, whose profile indicates that it's unlikely to be someone I've met and just forgotten about (as if I would):
Just in case you can't read that last bit, it reads:
can't wait to get real nasty and show off :) IM REAL MISS WEB CAM!
Reply to the message and immediately you're asked to share your contact details (a la Skype.) I didn't risk having Veronica spam all my friends (not sure how that would work, but I've got some nice people on my list, and I'd hate for them to be upset.) But I did reply to her message, and her responses were quick, and, dare I say it, felt a trifle automated:
[8:53:55 AM] Veronica sexy says: Hi are U busy?
[9:03:43 AM] Jeremy Wagstaff says: hi
[9:03:50 AM] Veronica sexy says: How are u ?
[9:04:30 AM] Jeremy Wagstaff says: i'm great. who are you?
[9:04:31 AM] Veronica sexy says: I would love to chat with you, come on http://www.SkyperSex.com !!!
[9:04:36 AM] Jeremy Wagstaff says: no thanks
[9:04:37 AM] Veronica sexy says: I would love to chat with you, come on http://www.SkyperSex.com !!!
[9:04:45 AM] Jeremy Wagstaff says: i'm a bit busy. really
[9:04:47 AM] Veronica sexy says: My internet connection is very bad come on http://www.SkyperSex.com !!!
[9:04:54 AM] Jeremy Wagstaff says: my internet connection is great!
That was the last I head of Veronica, although her scent lingers on.
The web address, by the way, is pretty much what you expect it will be -- lots of alleged clips of ladies cavorting. The administrator of the website is one Alexandrof Tiberiu in Moscow, who also owns www.yourlivecams.com.
I guess what's interesting here is that Skype don't seem to do much policing of this kind of thing. This could be a sex site spam, or it could be something worse.
(If you want to prevent Veronica getting in touch with you, go into Skype options, Privacy settings, and click on the Show Advanced Options button. Make sure the Allow chats from... option is only people in my Contact List:
Chances are Veronica won't come calling. Frankly, your life won't be the poorer for it.
And she seemed like such a nice girl too...
Posted by: Ed | December 13, 2007 at 02:04 PM
Jeremy,
I thoroughly enjoyed your whimsical, humorous reporting of such an annoyance. Your blog is a great addition to my feed reader.
Posted by: Josh Lane | December 14, 2007 at 12:14 AM
Freudian slip much?
"That was the last I head of Veronica" ;)
Posted by: Sigmund | December 15, 2007 at 12:31 AM
hii
Posted by: galbi | February 12, 2008 at 05:18 PM
hgil
Posted by: shukrey | February 19, 2008 at 05:47 AM
sexy p
Posted by: mona | March 04, 2008 at 06:05 AM
hi i love sex send to me your photo
Posted by: jawdat | April 17, 2008 at 12:52 AM
Unfortunately, at least in the latest Mac release, setting the privacy preferences to allow chats/calls only from contacts does not seem to block these. I've been getting 3-4 a day. I've tweaked my firewall settings, toggled and untoggled the Skype preferences, and still they get through somehow.
Posted by: Strange Proportion | June 21, 2008 at 10:15 AM
top
Posted by: jax | September 09, 2008 at 01:46 PM
Unfortunately, blocking chats just makes them try to add you to your contact list instead. Skype needs a captcha type system for new contacts.
Posted by: Paul | September 25, 2008 at 05:50 AM
nothing
Posted by: ranjith | September 29, 2008 at 02:52 PM
I just got 5 of these in a row in rapid succession (appx 3 minute time period). All of them from different "people". (obviously bots, as two of the "people" had different names yet the same photo.
My question is what technique they use to do this? How do we prevent this from happening in the first place?
Posted by: Jet | December 27, 2008 at 02:33 PM
Whoa -- make that 6 times. Just got another -- different name, same photo. Blast-o-matic on the skypespam!
Posted by: Jet | December 27, 2008 at 02:37 PM