It's a pity when we have to be cautious/suspicious of everything but that's the way it is nowadays. I nearly put the phone down on a friend the other day as I thought it was one of those silent ones which activates when you speak.

Happy Halloween 😱

Bob.

It’s a friendly spider. Here for one day only 👍 only a bit of fun 🕷️ 😄

Stephen

@EdW

"...the caller claims to be from the Financial Conduct Authority..."

Scammers operating in the financial industry? Who would have thought huh...

What industry are you in again Ed?

And, stop PM'ing me and asking for my location! 3 times is enough.

@EdW

Since when has providing a cautious warning, with a little technical backup, been paranoia?

Not everyone is a wise as you when it comes to being scammed, nor as hilarious as you when dealing with them.

I tried to spray the spider with insecticide, but it just made a mess of my screen 😂

I find the paranoia over the spider quite funny
🤣

I the UK there is a new scam where the caller claims to be from the Financial Conduct Authority and wants you to let him call on WhatsApp. I strung him along by pretending to be stupid, the asked him why little shits like him try to scam people, he hung up immediately.🤣🤣🤣

@ColRay

Oh, they're not deadshits.

Most are very, very clever people, but also very, very lazy, which is why they get caught eventually.

Funnily enough, the REALLY goods ones, end up working for the CIA, NSA, etc, where its deemed perfectly acceptable to 'infect' another country's digital infrastructure.

Why, our own government may even have some on the payroll... 😇

Murray.

Why can't deadshits play nice Col

@Steves-s

Could be, but these type of pop-up and out things worry me.

Its not just an image, 'inside' it lies a piece of programming code. It has to or it wouldn't 'activate' on click/hover.

Its that code that worries me, could be a joke... might launch nuclear armageddon, or just steal your metadata from your browser's history. Like passwords stored there, login details stored there, etc. etc.

As I said, classic 'bad actor' computer infection point.

I'd still leave it be until Firecat gives the all clear, and even then only if he's read the source code for 'backdoors'.

Two minutes it took me to find the attached 'darkweb' site image. Note the URL and only accepts Bitcoin. The internet is full of scumbags just waiting for people to click on animated .gifs on ordinary websites like this. Its how they make their money.

Welcome to the 'Dark Web'!

Murray.

Avoca
I wondered if it has something to do with Halloween 👹👿👽.
There is also cobwebs at the top right of the screen or should I say the Starboard bow??
It's making me feel a bit itchy 😐.

@RNinMunich

Not a chance...

Its precisely the type of 'click me' bait scammers use to infect your computer browser, and with java-script code behind it, your entire computer.

My advice, don't hover over or click it until you get "Clearance from Clarence" that he put it there and its a benign .gif of some sort.

But until I get an email notification that all is well, I'm outta here,

@ColRay
Hi Col. Put the cursor over it and he'll tell you 😁
Cheers, Doug😎

@ColRay

Dunno, but I don't like embedded code at the best of times...

TBH, I find it creepy rather than clever or amusing.