AIM/iChat?

[asterroc]

Anybody else been getting stupid messages from random people on AIM/iChat such as "Are you going to die?" or "Have you lied to your children today?" I got the former the other day, and the person said he got the latter from me; neither of us had actually sent it. Today I got the latter. It totally sounds like a virus or something, except that I thought there weren't really any Mac viruses out there.

Comments

[sirroxton.livejournal.com]

I take it you didn't know the other person beforehand?

The screen name you're receiving messages from isn't the screen name of the user you're talking to. You're both talking to the same bot, which relays your replies to each other. The bot initiates the conversation with a question.

It's pretty irritating, actually.

[gemini6ice.livejournal.com]

ii've never gotten hit :(

[zandperl.livejournal.com]

Happened twice, didn't know either.

I was also thinking bot, but doesn't the bot have to get our names from somewhere? How's it do that?

[ayashi.livejournal.com]

I heard that these bots were taking names from places like LiveJournal where you have it listed publicly. One of my friends was getting the same problem (not the same types of messages, but the same thing overall)

[zandperl.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I saw that when I googled, but I don't have mine in my LJ profile. It could just be using LJ names. I gather others use Facebook and such too.