Stop Using UTorrent Immediately & a Steam Phishing Scam

[Shane for Wax]

[i hope this is the right spot]

 

uTorrent version 3.4.2 build 38913 (32-bit) without consent of the user(s) affected downloaded something called EpicScale. If it wasn't bad enough that the users were not informed of this, but EpicScale is a bitcoining miner that is also somewhat difficult to extricate from your system.

 

uTorrent has been trying to convince people that EpicScale being foisted on their users without consent or even telling them is a good thing (Oh and in the same breath insisted that users actually did have a chance to opt out when many people corroborated the story that they were not told or asked to install the software). That EpicScale is altruistic and all this other stuff.

 

If you use uTorrent, I urge you to remove it and EpicScale. You can find more information in this thread (if you are infected by EpicScale it will try to protect itself from being deleted or found on your system by steering you from the site hence the link going to the google cache of the thread [tho I haven't confirmed THAT part of things])

 

And now for the next order of business, Steam the computer gaming client. There have been reports of people finding your username somehow and sending you a message in TF2 competitive to join their mumble server. When you tell them you can't join it, they give you a link which is actually to a phishing page. If this happens to you, block this person and report them to Steam support and don't click anything they send you. If you do not recognize the person at all and they message out of the blue, be very, very suspicious. You can find more info by googling but here's a general overview of what I said.

 

There are other instances where accounts with a level 0 try to add you in order to try to clone your gaming library amongst other things. Block and report these accounts. I get like 1-5 a week.

 

Oh and the mumble phishing scam guys will even go so far as to suggest you disable your antivirus, antimalware suites which should be an immediate red flag. If some random person tells you you need to disable anything like your antivirus then you need to get rid of them as quickly as possible.

 

Please stay safe out there, keep your antivirus, antimalware, etc., up to date as well as your ad block plus and other things.

[Hert123]

I never trusted torrents because of the stuff they can contain, but thanks for the warning. I know some people who do use uTorrent, I will warn them too.

Regarding Steam; that surely is a creative way of phishing! I am using Steam and playing TF2 a lot recently, so I wil definately keep an eye out! Thanks for the heads up! :)

[hrtbrk]

These things aren't really much of a threat if you use common sense and don't blindly click things.

 

A steam phishing scam has been around since as long as I can remember; just don't click links that some random person you played one game with 3 years ago sends to you out of the blue.

[Angeló]

i have the pro version of the 32080 build .. it hasn't prompted me to update yet .. but thanks to your warning i now never will unless they remove that malware :)

[Buffy]

I must shamefully admit that I've dabbled in torrent downloading, mostly for a single television show that hadn't had its DVD/Blu-ray release yet, but I've never used utorrent and thanks to you Shane, that's a source I shall avoid on my Acer laptop. It's five years old and already been infected with viruses in the past, I haven't been as careful lately as I was when I first bought it especially since switching to primarily using a macbook I was given from my mother's office a few years ago.

 

I've never heard of Steam but that sounds like so many stories I used to read of hacking scams on Neopets back when I was an active participant in the help boards several years ago. Refraining from clicking off-site links from unfamiliar users is a common sense thing really but sadly a lot of people somehow lack it.

[Dawn*]

I remember starting to install uTorrent maybe 6 months ago, or so, and then already it wanted to add some very shifty things to my computer! I said no, and said hasta la vista to uTorrent. It's very lousy behaviour from their part.

 

I use qBitTorrent instead.

[Shane for Wax]

These things aren't really much of a threat if you use common sense and don't blindly click things.

 

A steam phishing scam has been around since as long as I can remember; just don't click links that some random person you played one game with 3 years ago sends to you out of the blue.

Well uTorrent in particular was something that, even for those who check thru it to make sure nothing is being downloaded that you didn't intend, it was something that was downloaded in a later edition rather than at the start (along with not being told this was being downloaded too). For now it seems like a repeat of other torrenting programs in the past and is also why I tend to stay away from torrenting as a whole. But I know many do not feel the same way and will torrent regardless of any risks, probably confident that they know better than to do this and that. Which is how things like this can happen. It's not necessarily a lack of common sense (if we don't consider blind torrenting a lack) but more of the fact that people let their guard down and don't check after downloading something to see if it downloaded something ELSE along with it since programs aren't necessarily required to tell you everything it's downloading or some people may miss something during download.

 

And yes, steam phishing scams have been around forever, same with any scam, but there's a recent re-occurrence and also targets newbies more than anything else as well as a certain game. The one I mentioned and that I deal with often is less insidious but can also land people in trouble if they're new and don't tend to check to see if they know someone. Especially as that one isn't really phishing in the usual sense.

 

It is however common sense to find it suspicious when someone you don't know asks you to lower your shields, as it were.

 

As for everyone else, you're welcome. My circles tend to inform me of these things even if I'm not involved in something like torrenting. And this seems a good place to inform people of things even if I don't get myself involved in certain activities. lol