The Not So Free Myspace Viewer

By Jimmy Daniels
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews

It’s been awhile since we’ve posted about something bad on MySpace, right? Well, looks like the folks who created the MySpace Adult Content Viewer have got another little surprise, the “Free MySpace Viewer”. I don’t really understand why you would even need a MySpace viewer to start with, what is it a browser, or what?

A while ago, there was a particularly nasty scam going around the MySpace network, called the MySpace Adult Content Viewer. If you visited a fake profile, you’d see this gigantic popup appear telling you to download “something” to be able to view the page. Of course, anyone doing so would find their PC hit with various Adware and Spyware bundles.

Well, the creators have decided to mix things up a little, because here we have their latest piece of social engineering (at least, we’re assuming it’s made by the same people because it follows the methods and techniques used with the Adult Content Viewer, plus the name is almost identical which is a bit of a giveaway) - the “Free MySpace Viewer”. Visit a fake profile carrying this thing, and you’ll see this appear on your screen. Note how they tell you the content is “securely protected” - because there’s nothing like making people think your rogue install is actually some sort of security feature! At this point, depending on the fake profile, you may or may not see this appear when you click the popup. It’s an image verification screen - another nice piece of trickery designed to lure inexperienced users in. Before you ask - yes, the code generated really is random every time - it’s a fully functional (if slightly pointless) Captcha. Someone’s put a little effort into this one. Source: Spywareguide Greynets Blog

We Say: More losers trying to make a few bucks off of the parents of kids who visit MySpace, if those kids infect their parents computers, then those programs will end up making money off of their shopping, online browsing, popup clicking selves. Just say no to MySpace viewers!