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Scamware/Malware - Told my IP address is blocked for spamming!

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While trying to join a forum I received a message stating that my IP has been blocked because it is blacklisted for spamming. I wouldn’t even know how to spam even I had a desire and reason to do so. Guessing my MacBook Pro got hacked, has malware, scamware, etc..

I was always under the impression that Macs weren’t subjected to all of these problems, but perhaps times have changed. I was directed to Norton Power Eraser but have a feeling this isn’t Mac compatible or even what I need. Any suggestions on how to handle this?
 

Raz0rEdge

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It doesn't have to be your specific machine. A lot of forums, including this one, block spammers from the site by blocking either specific IP addresses or ranges of them.

Depending on how that blocking happened, you might be an innocent bystander in that block.

The public IP address you got has a particular lease time associated with it, usually in the order of days so it's hard to get a new one. But you can call your ISP and have them force a renew on your connection so that you can get a new IP address and then try to register on that forum.

If you still can't get through, they've likely blocked a range of IPs from your ISP due to one or more bad apples spamming their forums..

If you have a way to communicate with them, you can ask them to try to restrict the block to a specific IP address as opposed to range, and they might oblige if they are interested..
 
C

chas_m

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Actually, the "message" you got might itself have been a cleverly-disguised pop-up ad trying to scare you into buying Norton Power Erase.

While there is such a thing as Mac malware, I very much doubt you have anything at all. Your Mac has built-in malware protection, and if your machine really was spamming people your ISP would have been in touch with you by now. You can do a check using the free ClamX AV, but I'll be a dollar it comes up empty and what you saw was a trickware ad.
 

bobtomay

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Macs, nor any other OS has ever been, nor ever will be free from scammers on the internet.

Choosing to install some piece of scamware which then becomes malware is another story.
 
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I had exactly this problem trying to join a Labrador forum. I emailed them and they came back full of apologies that they had set their filters too fine. They sorted their problem out and I was able to join so no, you have probably not been hacked! Contact the forum admin.
 

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