Problems on simtropolis

[Tarkus]

Coming in here with my (metaphorical) Admin hat.  Let's try to keep this discussion productive, and allow this thread to act as a catch point for the active ST staff members here to have an exchange of information with SC4D members who are having difficulties using ST.  This thread is not intended to be a place to make subjective personal judgments on various tangential matters, or to continue any long-standing personal disagreements.  The Site Rules remain in effect as always.

If there are any questions or concerns, feel free to contact myself or another Admin or Global Moderator via PM.

Tarkus
SC4D Admin

[jjeffrey]

Elias, Thank you. To be clear(er) I never got an alert from my antivirus software. A couple of windows popped up and a soothing male voice was telling me that Microsoft had detected a virus and my credit card information was being sent to the bad guys. At that point I turned it off and everything was fine when I rebooted.
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MGB204:

Let's just think about that for a second:

Okay, let's.

• How would your Anti-Virus software know your credit card number?
  
• Is your credit card number saved on your PC? That's a recipe for problems right there, if not, how could it be stolen?

No account numbers on my pc. I keep all my credit card numbers on my cell phone.

• How can your Anti-Virus software "interrupt" a browsing session, i.e. appear in your browser or spoofing an Ad?

Your AV doesn't stop malware while you are browsing?

Clearly this is a scam ad, intended to get you to click on it with some nefarious intent. It is not your AntiVirus and unlikely to be an actual Virus either.

Agreed, but Simtropolis can probably find out for certain what it is.

Both times I immediately cut power to my pc. Upon restarting, a virus scan found no problems.

I would seriously advise against such a knee-jerk reaction(LOL). In any event, removing the network cable, turning off your router or simply disabling the internet on your computer would all have the same effect. Only these do so without any risk of corrupting data being written on your HDD, screwing up Windows or even breaking hardware.

Turning off the computer is the quickest for me. And once a virus starts writing to your pc, quick is best in spite of the potential problems you mention. IMHO.

. Afterall, had that ad managed to get malware onto your PC in the first place, re-starting the computer would be unlikely to fix it.

I know, but it gives my nerves time to calm down.
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MATTB325, You're great. THANKS.
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TARKUS, Always nice to hear from you.

Jeffrey

[jjeffrey]

Ran into it again but the nice man wasn't reading it to me. So, I copied it and put it here. Also, I was unable to close the window and had to use task manager to end it.

[Terring7]

It's fake. The call number doesn't belong to Microsoft at all. And since you don't have your credit card number at your PC, don't let it scares you. This is not the first time there's been reports of inappropriate ads. Sadly Simtropolis can't do a lot to manage the ads, although you can report the ads to minimize them. But ads that threaten or even install malware on someone's system are totally and explicitly unacceptable. The Simtropolis admins are working for a solution. More updates soon.

[mgb204]

Elias, Thank you. To be clear(er) I never got an alert from my antivirus software. A couple of windows popped up and a soothing male voice was telling me that Microsoft had detected a virus and my credit card information was being sent to the bad guys. At that point I turned it off and everything was fine when I rebooted.

Which is pretty much a textbook spoof/scam. All that's required for you to see it is to load the code, which in this case is coming from an Ad.

No account numbers on my pc. I keep all my credit card numbers on my cell phone.

Frankly that's probably less secure than your PC, I wouldn't personally.

Your AV doesn't stop malware while you are browsing?

Yes and no. My AV software doesn't pop up in my browser, because that would set of alarm bells, it's bad practise and I don't know of any security software that works like this. But, should a detectable threat occur, my AV software would itself pop up. But the two things are not the same. If you trust your AV software to keep you secure, then having not seen such an alert from the AV app, you can be reasonably confident there is no virus.

You can be certain however, no AV software will say it's from MS, use pre-recorded audio or tell you to call a phone number.

Clearly this is a scam ad, intended to get you to click on it with some nefarious intent. It is not your AntiVirus and unlikely to be an actual Virus either.

Agreed, but Simtropolis can probably find out for certain what it is.

Well again yes and no, because as I stated before, we aren't serving this ad to you, a third party is. We can report the problem, but it's not like we've done a deal with those behind the scam. Nor is the code that makes this occur hosted on ST at any point.

It would be better to contact one of the Moderators/Admins at ST directly in such an event.

Both times I immediately cut power to my pc. Upon restarting, a virus scan found no problems...

...Turning off the computer is the quickest for me. And once a virus starts writing to your pc, quick is best in spite of the potential problems you mention. IMHO.

Right, but you are ignoring a key point in respect of these scams, you've basically fallen for the scam. Because step 1 in falling for these scams is simply believing what you see. That is exactly what the fraudsters need in order for their scam to work. If you allow yourself to get caught up in the shock factor, you are far more likely to call that number without thinking. Then you are on your way to being really screwed over.

Similarly, switching off your PC is a really bad idea, which I point out because others may read this and take it as advice to follow. Viruses don't start "writing" to your machine and take hours to do so. Viruses/Malware are usually very small bits of code, in the time it would take you to hit the power switch, you'd almost certainly have the infection. Once the code is on your machine, re-starting be dammed, your PC is now compromised. So even if it made you feel better, it has done you nothing but potential harm.

Hence I used the phrase "Let's just think about that for a second:". Because that was intended as a reflection on the best method to protect yourself. Stop a moment and don't just assume what you see is the truth. I'm sorry if some find this condescending, but is certainly wasn't meant to be.

Of course, this Ad should not be served by ST, it shouldn't exist full stop. But these scams are sadly all to prevalent and as an internet user, you need to protect yourself. The #1 way to do this is to be able to recognise when something is not right.

[jjeffrey]

MGB204: The purpose of my post was to let Elias know what was happening, which I did, even if you explained it better.

And, I would not advise anyone to just turn off their computer. So, thanks for letting everyone know it really is a bad idea. (Of course, that won't stop me from doing it.)

BTW, I'm signing in to ST now.

[Terring7]

Simtropolis admin Cyclone Boom has some excellent news for everybody

Goodbye, AdFly!



Download button adverts zapped from the STEX.

For a while Simtropolis has relied on the pay-per-click advertisement service AdFly for files on our exchange. You'll have noticed this when attempting to download something on the STEX when browsing as a guest. Over the past few years this has been a valuable source of funding for site maintenance.

However, we've now fully removed this for 3 main reasons:

1. Serving of unsuitable adverts
There have been numerous reports of adverts being misleading and causing panic to people who experience them. Examples include those which popup and craftily make themselves known as a "Download Now" panel which is easily mistaken as being related to the STEX file itself. Whereas the Skip Ad function is hidden away in the corner and can easily be overlooked. Also some have reported adverts involving click-bait scams requesting a user action. This is completely and utterly unacceptable, and it's been going on for far too long now. To anyone including jjeffrey who've experienced such adverts, we're really sorry for this happening.
     
2. Inconvenience to the downloader
For those downloading from the STEX for the first time, needing to navigate through a maze of adverts becomes a tedious extra hassle. Initial impressions count, and we want people to feel most welcome when they visit Simtropolis for the first time. Being presented with adverts, especially iffy ones, isn't what anyone wants.
     
3. Revenue generated is negligible nowadays
Although the AdFly adverts were still generating a marginal monthly revenue, there has to be a line drawn here. As such we've now added a new info panel to the downloads sidebar per file, encouraging guests to donate and receive the STEX Collections as a gift with a minimum donation. We feel this is a less intrusive method to help with site funding. Additionally the info box describing about daily guest limits now includes dialog links to the Sign Up or Login forms for convenience.

As follows:



We hope AdFly finally being told to fly away is of great benefit to those who experienced this persistently perilous needless noxious nuisance.

[jeffryfisher]

For more info (and some best practices), read:
Tech Support Scams
... a Microsoft article that Google found simply by searching on the phone number in the image.