Spam in IM?

[Russ Smith]

Started this week, I've had 5 IM windows pop up using Yahoo messenger 9.0(beta version). each one is some unknown person and it's spam about a stock. I get them in email all the time but this is a first for me in IM.

I only IM 2 people regularly and both of them say they're not getting the spam. I had expected one of them had a virus which had grabbed their contact list and was spamming it, but neither of them have had any issues.

I'm running a full virus scan now but this is the first time I've ever seen spam like this so I'm now wondering if I'm at more risk with IM than I realized?

 

[Covert Rain]

Started this week, I've had 5 IM windows pop up using Yahoo messenger 9.0(beta version). each one is some unknown person and it's spam about a stock. I get them in email all the time but this is a first for me in IM.

I only IM 2 people regularly and both of them say they're not getting the spam. I had expected one of them had a virus which had grabbed their contact list and was spamming it, but neither of them have had any issues.

I'm running a full virus scan now but this is the first time I've ever seen spam like this so I'm now wondering if I'm at more risk with IM than I realized?

Its freaking annoying. Stupid SPAM bots in IM. It's pretty common. Spammers target IM accounts and use all sort of ways to get accounts. One of the easiest ways they do it is go to IM boards etc. and use screen scrapers (programs that extract text from computer displays so they can capture names of users on IM or in chat rooms.

Most IM programs have a setting to only allow messages from people on your friends or buddy list. When you get a message from someone not on it, you will get a pop up asking if you want to except messages from that person. You can click no.

Also, there are a few programs you can try as well to help in that area.