Skypespam - here it comes

Until recently my worst Skypespam was a Latvian "Escort" who started a call in the middle of a presentation, but now I've had variations of this note below over the last few weeks - if you have too, don't click on it - its spam, scam and potentially malware:

WINDOWS REQUIRES IMMEDIATE ATTENTION
============================

ATTENTION ! Security Center has detected
malware on your computer !

Affected Software:

Microsoft Windows NT Workstation
Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0
Microsoft Windows 2000
Microsoft Windows XP
Microsoft Windows Win98
Microsoft Windows Server 2003

Impact of Vulnerability: Remote Code Execution / Virus Infection / Unexpected shutdowns

Your system IS affected, download the patch from the address below NOW!

http://www.systemscan.org/?q=us-uk

Notes from the Skype Forum from one of the comments:

I just got that message too. saying it was from Skype Security Center. copied below. BUT, I am a newbie, and hit the link, which set up a scan saying I had all kinds of worms, etc. and that I had to PAY for an antivirus program. Had a really hard time shutting it down, decided to close everthing, reboot and run virus scans and adware programs, etc. which found a lot of dataminers & cookies that weren't there before. Also found a worm that had been QUARANTINED by my Anti-virus program, so all seems well

I have found it hard to block the users as they keep on using new addresses - ie classic spam tricks - as another commentator notes:

Here are the other usernames that I have blocked:
security.center.014c
security.center.03|13
security.center.b0013
security.monitor.no17

I also have two more blocked users at security.system.... but I cannot read the full user name in the blocked people list.

Advice from another commentator - good advice anyway:

If the spam messages are coming from unknown users, then the only solution is to block messages from unknown users.

In Skype for Windows, go to File | Privacy
Set the "Allow chats from" option to "only people in my Contact list"

This will force people to request authorization before they can send messages to you.

As Yogi Berra would say, its deja vu all over again - but it is sad that this sort of abuse happens.

Postscript - a different angle on the Skype P2P network conundrum is recorded here, looking at teh problems with using P2P systems in 3rd party networks.