Yahoo! Instant Messenger Hard Drive Killer Hoax

[Nessa]

I'm sure many of you by now, who use Yahoo! Instant Messenger have received a message from somebody saying the following message:

Just a heads up that Vivekabarathi@yahoo. com may try to add you to their IM. dont accept it. Its a virus. Tell everyone in your list because if somebody on your list adds him, you get the virus too. Tell everyone one your list not to open anthing from Vivekabarathi. It is a hard drive killer and very horrible virus. pass this letter to everyone on your buddy list. Right click on the group name of your buddy list and click Send Message to all.

Here taken from the Symantec Security site, it tells of how it is just a hoax going around causing alarm when there is no real need for it.

Symantec Security Response encourages you to ignore any messages regarding this hoax. It is harmless and is intended only to cause unwarranted concern.

YIM Hard drive killer Hoax is being spread through email and instant messaging services. It has been reported that the instant messaging service is mainly Yahoo IM.



YIM Hard drive killer is a hoax and is being spread through email and instant messaging services, mainly Yahoo IM. It has been reported that the following text of the hoax may differ slightly in the various messages going around. The IM contact name used has also been reported to vary.

Source

[MrEggsalad]

Man, I hate crap like this. I mean at least have it be a real virus, but heh...someone with smarts also knows that many of these Hoaxes don't even make sense. I mean get a virus by adding a certain person? Yeah right.

[yhap2003]

I just ignore this crappy messages from my contact. So once I don't pass it on then alot of ppl wouldn't pass it either. Cause I have loaded of contacts.

[Nessa]

It actually amazes me how fast these messages get around and the amount of people who take them seriously. This one in particular caught my eye specifically because a friend of mine who never sends spam messages, actually sent it to me. That is why this particualar message sparked my interest and I decided to verify it's authenticity. In my mind i thought it was fake, but then again i hardly receive messages about viruses, it's usually about "Your crush will IM you" or "Someone will tell you they love you" and so on, if you send them to everyone on your messenger list. I'm sure this isn't the last we will see of messages like this, but informing people about the fact that they shouldn't believe everything they read helps. That way we can prevent messages like this from being repeated millions of times for no reason.