Hi;

I'm a new Skype user and have set up my prefs in Skype beta for Mac to
not receive chats, either not my contacts or not started by me, etc. I still
receive a lot of spam chats, even with this checked. I've restarted
everything, tried several settings, etc. How can I stop this? At least I can block each user,
but it's endless.

Then I got an obnoxious sex call that was a conference call. This caller
could not be blocked, the "block caller" was dimmed when I right-clicked
his name. I want to receive Skype calls from European and other
customers from my website. This sort of abuse makes the whole system
useless for commercial applications if I have to block callers I don't know.

Any help would be appreciated.

TIA,
Jack

Jack - have you set your preferences to 'Only Allow Calls/Chats from people in my Contact List" at
<Tools <Options <Privacy ?

Yes, as far as chats goes. Makes no difference, I still get spam chats. On the Mac it's under prefs, unless there is another place? I want to be able to get phone calls from prospective customers, so I can't block unknown callers, but I would like to block certain ones. I think Skype has a big spam issue to deal with, IMHO.

Jack

Hi Jack,
I'm not a Mac user - my knowledge is Windows based but if the options are the same you can block contacts on an individual basis but I don't believe that will help your particular issue.
If I understand you correctly you want to be able to block certain callers without knowing their Skype name in advance.
I don't think you will be able to do that Skype software.

No, my issues are these:

Block all chats not on my contact list; that privacy option isn't working, even when selected.
Block spam caller on an individual basis after the fact. It shows for other callers. This was part of a "conference call" the pervert originated and perhaps the option to black a caller who is part of a conference isn't available? If so, it's a huge privacy hole.

Jack

I think I know how you feel. I'm on a Windows XP computer and I've arranged my privacy setting to receive chat messages and calls only from authorized contacts but I still get SPAM messages and unwanted calls.
My opinion is that Skype Staff should really get these setting working all the time normally.
I'm saying "all the time" because SOMETIMES these settings do their job!!!

Well there must be something wrong with your setup because I have my privacy setting set to only receive call/chats from people on my contacts list and I DO NOT get any unwanted calls.

The only unwanted message I get is requests from strangers asking if the can share there contact details with me and there is no way you can stop this but you can say NO and block that person from sending the request again.

What you also need to remember is that you can't set this option on your Skypein number other wise you would not receive all calls.

If there is something wrong with my setup I would like to know. Could you please tell me where to look and what to fix?

When you say you get unwanted call are the call Skype2Skype or Skypein.

What version of Skype do you use.

Please recheck your privacy settings.

Hi I started to receive the same calls for chats and conferences about sex from people I don't known I need to be on line for everybody because of my business and those chat calls are really bothering any sugestions for stop this ??????

I would say almost impossible because you have to be contactable by anybody as you say because of your business.

One thing you can do I think is when the call come in you can block the call but then the problem comes if it is a voice call you do not know what they are going to say untill you answer. Chat messages are Ok because you can see the text so you can block them straight away.

I have the exact same problem.
The preferences are set to block but it makes no matter. Also, contact cannot be deleted.

My settings are absolutely set correctly.

Face it, Skype has a serious security issue.

Please report a bug/security risk here giving as much detail as possible to help the development team try to solve your problem. You will need to create an account using your Skype username and password then login with your Skype username and password and report your bug/security risk.

I've had a similar problem.

I'm no internet expert, but it seems that if you go browsing on some web sites (ones you wouldn't want your grandmother to see..) and you have Skype running, you can get this type of chat message come up on your screen shortly afterwards.

It happened to me once and I blocked all the separate users on the chat, without replying to the chat of course.
Once I shut down Skype and re-started it, I had no more problem.

Is there any way the IP address or something can be used to contact someone via Skype ?

For info, those users chatting were shown as: dmldml4, eplantilla, httrmsyk, justt_mme, lrmoyle, tcmhealing, berbatov.kozev, nikonnut, sapoynter, sed_sed944 and liljusjka .

I have created a bug: https://developer.skype.com/jira/browse/SCW-403

Nice of skype to say your block of .... is not in effect in this chat.

Here are some 'samples' from my history that I received in the last week:

============

Dear friends:
...company ,established in 2001,now has been a big and well-known company in the capital of china,beijing.

our company is specialized in sellin and agenting all kinds of eletronic goods,including tv,digital cameras ,gps system,mp3,mp4, motorbike, and cellphone,you can find the good brand ,such as panasonic,sony , hp, nokia, Apllila, etc.
Being through consistent enterprise business purposes:"users first,comprehensive services", we continuously strengthening internal management to improve the overall quality of enterprises,and do our best to guarantee our customer benefit and winned the trust of the costmers,
To ensure complete clients satisfaction is our plants purposes,which committed all staff work together,and constantly improve the quality of products , supply competitive prices and highly supply speed.
and we are looking forward to you to join ,please contact us ,
here is the linking way:

website: www.joinbenifit.com
TOM-SKYPE:happymy2
email/msn:aoaao-emall@hotmail.com
TEL/FAX:FAX:86-010-83756694
company name:Jin shi li ke ji ltd

====================

Dear sir/madam,
Sorry for disturbing you,We are a large trading company from china,an
agent of all the well-known digital product factories. We export all kinds
of digital products, and offer reasonable price and good quality.In these
Years, We'the many customs of the welcomed by of the reputation and of the ve gained a good
worldwide.
Welcome to browse our website:http://www.digital-ebusiness.com
Please feel free to contact us at address if any questions, We will try
our best to give you a satisfactory answer.

www.digital-ebusiness.com
MSN: digital-ebusiness@hotmail.com
EMAIL: digital-ebusiness@hotmail.com
SKYPE:digital-ebusiness
Phone:+86+010-86630727

of digital products, and offer reasonable price and good quality.In these
Years, We'the many customs of the welcomed by of the reputation and of the ve gained a good
worldwide.
Welcome to browse our website:http://www.digital-ebusiness.com
Please feel free to contact us at address if any questions, We will try
our best to give you a satisfactory answer.

www.digital-ebusiness.com
MSN: digital-ebusiness@hotmail.com
EMAIL: digital-ebusiness@hotmail.com
SKYPE:digital-ebusiness
Phone:+86+010-86630727

=========================

Dear sir/madam,
Sorry for disturbing you,We are a large trading company from china,an
agent of all the well-known digital product factories. We export all kinds
of digital products, and offer reasonable price and good quality.In these
Years, We'the many customs of the welcomed by of the reputation and of the ve gained a good worldwide.
Welcome to browse our website: http://www.ruceo.com
Please feel free to contact us at address if any questions, We will try our best to give you a satisfactory answer .
Mail:ruceo.com@hotmail.com
MSN: ruceo.com@hotmail.com
Phone:+(86)010- 86202381
www.ruceo.com

When you have this problem are you in a multie chat situation or just a chat with one person if multie LEAVE that chat and see if you still get the problem.

I am in a no chat situation. Nothing open, no chat. Suddely the multichat pops up no question, no accept button just a popup ad.

If possible when this happens can you send a screen shot please also a screen shot of your Skype security settings and do you have you status to Skypeme at all.

I have exactly the same situation as katzlbt. I checked my privacy settings: Tools > Options > Privacy and there "only people from my Contacts" for both calls and chats. My Skype status is Online, not Skype Me. I have today received half a dozen messages in the same spam chat that doesn't allow me to block users (" Your block of XYZ is not in effect in this chat"). The problem started two days ago, that is, May 14.

The chat doesn't show up at all in my History, but does appear if I go through the Tools > Recent Chats menu item.

Viewing the profiles of the chat members it seems that some of the names are legit, but there are many that are obviously bogus -- perhaps harvested somewhere?

Here's the profile info of the chat initiator:

Skype name: mnbvcx5089
Gender: Female
Location: China
Homepage: www.7-elec-11.com
About Me: Dear Friend, Sorry that we disturbe you. This is Hunter company that is established in 2001.Hunter mainly sell well-known digiatl products.... [etc.]

(The spelling errors and missing space are the writer's, not mine.)

I haven't yet tried leaving the chat, but will do that now and report immediately if the problem persists.

It would be interesting to know whether this nuisance is somehow geography-based. I live in Estonia myself.

I've just started to get this problem as well. I'm getting the same chat spam stream as katzlbt. I've also restricted my contact options and blocked skype user id and reported it to Skype support. All to no avail. This is the sort of stuff that makes the internet unusable.

I suggest that everyone makes a report, then maybe they'll pay attention. You can find the place to make the report in the About Us > Contact Us section at the bottom of the page. The report won't get submitted unless you click on the submit button on the page after you one where you fill in the report form. (Makes it look as though they don't want to be bothered doesn't it).

When you have this problem are you in a multi chat or a chat with one person only.

As wrote before in this thread, the user most likely is not in ANY chat at all.

I have the same problems. That's the reason why I'm here at the forum.
Spam has start pop up out of nowhere.
In my case always from chineese people trying to sell the most impossible things.
I am never in any kind of chat when it happens.

Realy anoying to say it at least :

Can I suggest that people who are having this problem follow either of the 2 methods below.

Delete config.xml file
Back up your Skype contacts Tools>............Advanced>............Backup contacts to file this will save a yourskypeusername.vcf file to a location on your PC of your choice.

Next type:%appdata%\skype into windows explorer and look for a folder with the same name as your Skype username, in that folder you will find a file called config.xml re name that file config1.xml and re start Skype this will build you a new config.xml file.

Once Skype have been restarter you will be asked to open a new account cancel that request and on the main Skype wind you should see an link saying already have an account click that and it will take you to the normal log in screen where you have to type in you username and password.

If this suggestion fails and you still keep getting spam the you just reverse what you have just done by deleting the config.xml file and re nameing the config1.xml back to config.xml.

If you do follow this method you need to go through and reset any option you had set because when the new config.xml file it built all you setting go back to the default.

Skype reset

Warning you must remember your Skype username and password before you do this otherwise you will not be able to log in when you restart Skype because the link to your username and password details will be lost when you delete config.xml and all options are reset to default. You are also advised to backup your contacts list by going to the Main Skype Tools>.......advanced>……..Backup contacts to file. This will save a yourskypeusername.vcf file to a location on your PC of your choice.

First logoff Skype and shut it down.

Start
Run
Type:%appdata%
Now look for the Skype folder and delete that folder.
Re-run Skype and log in with your data.

I have had this same message in the last two days - two instances of it.

In addition, the sender has a triangle beside it, and if I click on it, I get a list of local skype users (ie, users in my country) with what seems to be valid contact details. I am thinking of calling one or two to see if they are having the same problem.

Trouble is I do not want to block access to people not on my contact list as sometimes I do get referrals who re trying to message me and I do add them.

Skype needs some kind of system where this kind of abuse can be automatically reported and if they get enough complaints, they can take action. If two of us have it, then I am sure more have it.

Regards
A





Were your messages from:

wangdong75135

who is in China?



Here are some 'samples' from my history that I received in the last week:

============

Dear friends:
...company ,established in 2001,now has been a big and well-known company in the capital of china,beijing.

our company is specialized in sellin and agenting all kinds of eletronic goods,including tv,digital cameras ,gps system,mp3,mp4, motorbike, and cellphone,you can find the good brand ,such as panasonic,sony , hp, nokia, Apllila, etc.
Being through consistent enterprise business purposes:"users first,comprehensive services", we continuously strengthening internal management to improve the overall quality of enterprises,and do our best to guarantee our customer benefit and winned the trust of the costmers,
To ensure complete clients satisfaction is our plants purposes,which committed all staff work together,and constantly improve the quality of products , supply competitive prices and highly supply speed.
and we are looking forward to you to join ,please contact us ,
here is the linking way:

website: www.joinbenifit.com
TOM-SKYPE:happymy2
email/msn:aoaao-emall@hotmail.com
TEL/FAX:FAX:86-010-83756694
company name:Jin shi li ke ji ltd

====================

Dear sir/madam,
Sorry for disturbing you,We are a large trading company from china,an
agent of all the well-known digital product factories. We export all kinds
of digital products, and offer reasonable price and good quality.In these
Years, We'the many customs of the welcomed by of the reputation and of the ve gained a good
worldwide.
Welcome to browse our website:http://www.digital-ebusiness.com
Please feel free to contact us at address if any questions, We will try
our best to give you a satisfactory answer.

www.digital-ebusiness.com
MSN: digital-ebusiness@hotmail.com
EMAIL: digital-ebusiness@hotmail.com
SKYPE:digital-ebusiness
Phone:+86+010-86630727

of digital products, and offer reasonable price and good quality.In these
Years, We'the many customs of the welcomed by of the reputation and of the ve gained a good
worldwide.
Welcome to browse our website:http://www.digital-ebusiness.com
Please feel free to contact us at address if any questions, We will try
our best to give you a satisfactory answer.

www.digital-ebusiness.com
MSN: digital-ebusiness@hotmail.com
EMAIL: digital-ebusiness@hotmail.com
SKYPE:digital-ebusiness
Phone:+86+010-86630727

=========================

Dear sir/madam,
Sorry for disturbing you,We are a large trading company from china,an
agent of all the well-known digital product factories. We export all kinds
of digital products, and offer reasonable price and good quality.In these
Years, We'the many customs of the welcomed by of the reputation and of the ve gained a good worldwide.
Welcome to browse our website: http://www.ruceo.com
Please feel free to contact us at address if any questions, We will try our best to give you a satisfactory answer .
Mail:ruceo.com@hotmail.com
MSN: ruceo.com@hotmail.com
Phone:+(86)010- 86202381
www.ruceo.com
[/quote]

Yep, I am having the same issue with unsilocited group chats.





I am using the Mac Skype Client v2.6.0.137
Privacy Settings are set to "Allow instant messages only from people I have authorized".

Looking back through my log, I can see this started in earnest about a week ago. Once they start popping up, you can't block them or prevent them from popping up again. I have switched to GizmoProject in the meantime, since I had to quit out of Skype - I couldn't get any work done with uncontrollable popups all day!

Add me to this list, privacy settings set to only allow from persons on my contact list.

Getting spam left and right from chats with multiple people.

"dear friend :" bla bla bla

If this is not stopped me and my friends and colleagues will have to go back to using teamspeak for voice again, I love skype but I can't have spammers sending inappropriate messages all the time disrupting work.

This is not a virus allowing this, multiple scans with various anti-virus programs all comes up clean.

I suggest everyone getting these, that you post a link to this thread in the chat and then leave it so more people can come here and show how big a problem this is.

I am getting this 4 or 5 times a day now and it is very annoying. Skype must be aware of this problem already. How do we combat it. My settings are for people can only message me if they are in my message list but i am getting spammed everyday from people who are not in my list. Sometimes i hate computers and the internet!!

Although it doesn't fix the problem, once I started posting the skype abuse email address and link to this tread every time I get a new spam I never see the same spammer again, before I did that the same message from the same spammer would pop up all day long so I guess they remove 'troublesome' targets.

I've got the same problem with the privacy thing not working properly, yesterday two groupchats popped up with a load of contacts in, spamming something similar as the things quoted in previous posts.

I closed the window for the group chat (as there is no other option for leaving) but every time a new line is inputted in the chat (for example someone else leaves the chat), the window pops back up.

I tried blocking the starter of the chat, and I checked several times that my privacy settings were set correctly (only allow contacts to send me chat and calls), but the window just kept popping up..

quite a nasty glitch I'd say :/

I don't get it... i have a lot of problems with spam conferences and it's really pissing off.
The solution would quite easy to program after all, the skype team should just add one more option to the preferences list :
- do not allow conference from people not in your contact list
The thing is to make the differnce between simple messages "private messages" and conferences !!!

I hope you guys will find a solution as, again, it's really pissing off !!!

Hi all,
I am having the same problem as most of the above on my XP computer and my wife's Mac Book with the Intel cpu but not with my main computer which runs OpenSuse 10.2.
Initially the spammers were sex oriented but are now apparently Chinese "businesses" although they may be no more authentic than the Nigerians.
Whatever, their presence diminishes the Skype experience and it would be really good if the administrators got on the job and made it possible to shut out the unwanted contacts permanently. This has been a great feature of Skype in the past and I look for to it's return,
grandad

I have not activated the block on non-contacts sending messages as I need this to be active. I am happy for a chat to be initiated by one person as this is often relevant and welcome.

Surely what is needed is a way of saying you do not want to be invited to group chats by anyone who is not a contact, but accepting chats from one person, whether or not they are a contact.

I'm having hte exact same problem. The chinese people are spamming me. I'm on a Macbook with intel processor. I've noticed that when someone (legitimate) calls me, Skype crashes and I restart it. When I restart it, all of my security settings have switched back to "allow anyone to call me" and I soon get Chinese spam again. They are the same messages that others have posted in this same thread.

I've gotten spams from these users: raja_slimani and mnbvcx5089

These just pop up uninitated - group chats which I have not asked for.

I"m using version 2.5.0.85 of Skype for Mac

I have had (in the past) "allow my status to be shown on the web" enabled, but I'm turning that off.

I also have the joomla plug-in (mod_jomskype) running which shows my status on my website. I'm disabling that as I write this.


Will this problem be fixed in 2.5.0.86?

It appears to be version independent. I've just begun getting these spam messages and I'm using 2.6.0.140 (Mac). Somehow the spammers are hijacking Skype's peer-peer system.

I've specifically blocked the senders and have ensured my privacy settings are in order to no avail... they keep coming back.

I posted an abuse notice to Skype last week, but no word back yet.

I am also inundated with unwanted callers and chatters - some as blatant as asking me in very explicit detail if i want to participate in their sex chats. i have to get rid of this. how do i do that? is there a place where i can report them and then Skype can do something about it. also, i now also started getting advertisements for all kinds of trade goods on the skype. I was never asked if i wanted to block them, they just appear. PLEASE HELP.

i see that most of us on this forum have the same problem. but i dont see a solution. is this just a forum for venting or is there someone out there in cyberspace that will HELP?

Yes send an email to abuse@skype.net with the full details

I don't want to seem vindictive, but from the lack of moderator posts, this seems more like an area to vent, and comfort ones self with the fact that other people are getting hammered with the same junk without any way of doing anything about it.


The hopeful news is that, ever since I turned off "allow my status to be shown on the web", uninstalled the joomla skype plug in, and reset my preferences, I haven't had any sales pitches for Chinese "Junk"

turned off "allow my status to be shown on the web", uninstalled the joomla skype plug in, and reset my preferences,

i never had my "allow my status to be shown on the web" ticked, but i changed the other stuff. what is it to "uninstall the joomla skype plug in"? Pardon my ignorance!

Rocketman deserves thanks for trying to solve this spam problem. The complicated procedure he outlined will not be a good option for most users like myself. I just want Skype to fix it. Why should we depend on someone in cyberspace?!

I have been having the same problem discussed in the topic for about 10 days now...same sort of messages already reported on. Obviously Skype has a big problem. Users will start shutting off Skype instead of getting unwanted chat spam.

Why is it that Skype has not responded officially to this subject? Skype owes it to its users to admit to the problem and say they are working on a fix. Come on Skype, own up. This is a big threat to your popularity. Dont leave everything for Rocketman.

I urge all Skype users with same or similar problems to let Skype know. This is not an isolated issue, but a security hole that has been taken advantage of. Best to admit it and work hard on a solution for those of us who like Skype, but hate unsolicited messages.

Cheers

Exactly the same problem as above. Set privacy settings to 'only my contacts' for both calls and chats. Still get spam group chats from china, and the message 'your block of XYZ' is not effective in this chat.

This is not a problem with your settings, or with a config file. It is a problem with Skype. They have been hacked are not going to fix it unless it is made public. Sooooo, start making copies of your logs and send them to Cnet, MacWorld, PCWorld and other Internet media outlets.

This is crap.

Please report a bug/security risk here giving as much detail as possible to help the development team try to solve your problem. You will need to create an account using your Skype username and password then login with your Skype username and password and report your bug/security risk.

While you have faith in Skype support, I don't. I've seen how they DON'T operate. I will make the report and still mail my logs to different Internet media illustrating that Skype has a security hole.

If when you make your report you will see it is not going to the usual support desk but somewhere totally different it is going to the development team where it normally gets a far better response.

I use the a Content Management System called Joomla to manage my website (instead of writing HTML). Joomla offered a plug-in that showed your Skype status on your website, as well as allowing someone to click on a button to call you. I uninstalled it, as I was wondering if this was how the Chinese Skype hackers were getting access to me.

Skype must be doing something about it, as I have not had any more problems since I posted my first post and then re-locked down my security settings. Go Skype!

Great for you but obviously it is not working for many. So, Skype still has a problem. Your individual problem my be solved but this does not mean that Skype as a whole is secure.

I am having the same problem. Skype is set to receive chat msgs from contacts only but I am still getting chats from georgiawinner and when I open it there is a huge list of other chat participants on the right side of screen - and I can't block them. Come on Skype staff, what the hell's going on? Get it sorted or I'm not going to use it!

I have exactly the same spam messages from a company in china, the only people in my contact list are people I know and have given permission to chat with me, I have never used skypeme, and nevre asked to chat to somebody that I dont know, and I have skype set to only accept messages and calls from people in my contact list, so there is obviously a big issue with the way that skype works here.

Somewhere down the line somebody is getting skype usernames and spamming, and these spam message are getting through skpe security at my skype application end so that would point to a fault in the skype client on my computer, I even did a complete format and re-instal of windows to see if this would make it stop incase a skype virus had somehow manged to get into my computer, but I still keep getting the same messages several times a day.

I am getting this trading company spam as well and already submitted an abuse report to skype in the support section. I suggest everyone report this there as well... maybe skype staff will do something about it!

At work we are using skype to communicate between us and some of our clients, but now we're considering not using skype as it is hindering our productivity.

I get the same issue... all preferences set to full privacy but get the spam chats from China and sex pests.

mac os 10.4.11 skype 2.7.0.330