A new virus is circling the Internet through Yahoo Messenger: a virus that holds authentic conversations and tricks users to join a infected website.
Instant messaging programs such as Yahoo Messenger were always one of the most popular ways to spread a virus. Because, in general, these viruses are based on not so advanced social engineering mechanisms, they can easily be tracked by users. Even so, Bitdefender specialists recently identified a bot type virus that spreads through Yahoo Messenger and uses a very ingenious mechanism to trick users.
The Yahoo Messenger Virus
The virus, or trojan, named Trojan.YIMBot.K initiates conversations on Yahoo Messenger, using a very polite and authentic greeting formula and announces a so called breaking news: Apple offers 5000 MacBook Laptops for free to commemorate the death of Steve Jobs.
What is new in the case of this virus is that it manages to be extremely interactive, simulating authentic replies, giving the impression that a real person is behind that virus’ Yahoo Messenger ID. The program is designed so that it recognizes some keywords from the conversations and provides pertinent replies.
The purpose of this action is to convince users to access a so called website where they can sign up to receive the free Macbook. When accessing the link users are redirected to a jobs website that offers the possibility of working from home.
Basically, this is a scam, designed to mask a series of illicit transactions. The mechanisms behind this scam involves users who, without realizing, receive and redirect sums of money in different locations of the globe, so that authorities can’t follow the funds.