Hi,

while the next version of Messenger Plus! is being tested, I thought I should write about two things that have been affecting the software recently. One is good, one is bad. Let's start with the later, I'll talk about happy things next time.

A new kind of scam has grown popular since last year. Some people have been registering domain names that look similar to mine in order to get money from my users. Some of these sites try to look like legitimate download sites, offering lots of other programs, while others bluntly rip off parts of the official site to look official. In every situation, the setup file downloaded from these sites asks to input a code which is generally obtained by paying a couple of dollars or euros by the mean of text messages (SMS) sent from your mobile phone. Some of these sites even replace their download link with a legitimate one from time to time to stay unnoticed for a longer period of time.

While we are still trying to shut down many of these sites, the problem is now important enough to give a clear official warning: Messenger Plus! is a very popular product and for that reason, is an easy target for scammers. Legitimate download sites will never, ever, ask you for any kind of monetary compensation to download or install Messenger Plus!, its scripts or its skins. If you have any doubt, go directly to msgpluslive.net to get your files and when recommending the program to your friends, give them a proper url. Don't let them search for the software in a search engine as I've seen some of the bad sites advertising on Google, making the scam a very easy one to push onto some people.

Messenger Plus! is a software that's free to download, free to install, and free to enjoy. If you fear a setup file you downloaded may have been tampered with, check its digital signature (right-click and select Properties). All the binary files I distribute are signed by "Patchou" with a VeriSign Class 3 certificate. If Windows displays anything else than "Patchou" and "Messenger Plus! Live" when you try to launch the setup, the file was not approved by me for public distribution and for that reason, it should not be trusted.

In order to conclude this news post, I can't help myself but to point out something obvious and pathetic. In my opinion, problems like this one should be easily avoidable in our time. Sites registered by scammers should be recorded in some kind of big online database and people who try to access them should receive an appropriate warning. This is the job you would expect big security companies such as McAfee to perform well and as it turns out, McAfee offers this kind of service already! it's called SiteAdvisor and you can even install an add-on to automatically protect you while you surf. The problem? According to their database, msgpluslive.net is rated red with a big "don't go there" cross and is said to link to "unwanted programs", including 11 "trojans". If you check messengerplus.ms, one of the scammers' web sites, you'll see a green checkmark and a note: "We tested this site and didn't find any significant problems". Life goes on...

Patchou

that one of the reasons why I hate McAfee... I used to work with them to tests theirs new releases... and they always think you are wrong but they don't...

Well, hope this gets ''fixed'' soon, so noone tries to make profit from your work

Anyway, Keep up the good work Patchou!

Hrm...Petition Time for McAfee .  The scam sites are really popping up fast too for Messenger Plus! Live, its unfortunate.  Good info though, Patchou!

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Originally posted by Dane
Hrm...Petition Time for McAfee .  The scam sites are really popping up fast too for Messenger Plus! Live, its unfortunate.  Good info though, Patchou!

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No, john-t. I suggest you read up on old news

I left a bad review on SiteAdvisor about the scam site. Hopefully they get closed down soon and no one will fall for the scam.

Reported on http://www.mess.be

people will do anything to make money these days

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Originally posted by Patchou
Sites registered by scammers should be recorded in some kind of big online database and people who try to access them should receive an appropriate warning.

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Originally posted by Patchou
The problem? According to their database, msgpluslive.net is rated red with a big "don't go there" cross and is said to link to "unwanted programs", including 11 "trojans". You can even read the un-moderated comments that follow, most of them being very useful and professional. If you check messengerplus.ms, one of the scammers' web sites, you'll see a green checkmark and a note: "We tested this site and didn't find any significant problems". Life goes on...

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Originally posted by Choli

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Originally posted by Patchou
Sites registered by scammers should be recorded in some kind of big online database and people who try to access them should receive an appropriate warning.

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What about Internet Explorer 7 "anti-phising" technology or whatever that's called? How does that work? Couldn't those stupid sited be submitted to the bad-sites data base of Microsoft or something?

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Originally posted by MrDiSante
May be Patchou could post the sites that he knows about so we could all report em?

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It's terrible to see people trying to make money off other peoples products, and not see the creator get a penny.
Anyway Patch, I always link people to the official site, they download without a problem. They thank me for it when they should be thanking you!

Its pretty sad to see that someone is getting money out of someone elses hard work, Patchou has worked for a long time on Messenger Plus! and i do not think its fair that people continue to do this, i hope they are stopped ASAP and people stop scabbing money from someone elses work.

First of all I agree with everyone else who says it's sad or upsetting to see someone else profit off another persons product.

If I were in your position I would probably email a letter to McAffee and inform that this site is a scam. Furthermore I would tell them what kind of product marks the plus! and msghelp site red and a scam site green.


What a world we live in? What a world we live in?

Wish you best of luck Patchou in the fight against scammers!

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Originally posted by Choli

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Originally posted by Patchou
Sites registered by scammers should be recorded in some kind of big online database and people who try to access them should receive an appropriate warning.

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What about Internet Explorer 7 "anti-phising" technology or whatever that's called? How does that work? Couldn't those stupid sited be submitted to the bad-sites data base of Microsoft or something?

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These sites are appearing more frequently too, and something needs to be done about them .

Some trouble seems to be there even with main msgpluslive.* domains, like

• msgpluslive.org,
  
• msgpluslive.at,
  
• msgpluslive.nu,
  
• msgpluslive.ws,
  
• and even more, pseudo-TLDs, like .de.vu, .de.ki, .de.ms, .de.tk and .eu.tf.

The only thing you could probably do short of contacting hosts is to make sure that msgplus! and msghelp are the first two sites that appear when searching for msgplus!

Can the installer be encrypted so it cant be tampered with? Would be really good if there was a way to do it or "invent" a way to encrypt it so it can't be tampered with.

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Originally posted by High Speed Chaser
Can the installer be encrypted so it cant be tampered with?

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Originally posted by High Speed Chaser
Can the installer be encrypted so it cant be tampered with? Would be really good if there was a way to do it or "invent" a way to encrypt it so it can't be tampered with.

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Patchou> According to their database, msgpluslive.net is rated red with a big "don't go there" cross and is said to link to "unwanted programs", including 11 "trojans".

Fair enough as long as MessPlus contains the risk that some noobs might end up with adware on their computer upon installation.

Patchou> If you check messengerplus.ms, one of the scammers' web sites, you'll see a green checkmark and a note: "We tested this site and didn't find any significant problems".

ROFL... It says on siteadvisor.com that they've downloaded 1 file off the messengerplus.ms site.. the least they could do is check this one file before giving the site a green checkmark... Sheesh!

Btw, if anyone wants to know more about the nature of scammers, you should really check out www.419eater.com. It should yield hours of entertainment.

can you put a warning inside the installer saying "if you downloaded this file from any other site other than www.msgplus.net than you may have been scammed or have a virus"?

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Originally posted by rm rulz
can you put a warning inside the installer saying "if you downloaded this file from any other site other than www.msgplus.net than you may have been scammed or have a virus"?

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i mean like as part of the agreement thingy...

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Originally posted by rm rulz
i mean like as part of the agreement thingy...

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OMG, look at my screenshot



The link is pointing to http://www.mesenger.us/fr/ ...

Edit:

Why I don't see advert since I posted

The ad is not there because it's a Google Ad. Google Ad bars have the same coding in every single one of them and they link to sites refering to some content found in the site. Since Forums have a lot of content, the ads change every time you refresh.

EDIT: To keep on-topic: I've heard about this in my Computer Competiencies class (really basic class that are more geared towards older people than graduates because it's required). Something really has to be done about this...Patchou, are there any graphical things that are really hard to immulate that could be made into a focal point for the site? Something that couldn't be lifted with just a printscreen and photoshop but requires really specific coding or something?

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Originally posted by Soardra
The ad is not there because it's a Google Ad. Google Ad bars have the same coding in every single one of them and they link to sites refering to some content found in the site. Since Forums have a lot of content, the ads change every time you refresh.

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The phishing thing was posted online by a guy.. The one where shawnz made a (rofl) keygen for it
Its absolutely lame. Such sites should be red flagged by site advisors, rather than the actual site being red flagged.. this is just wrong