What should I do about the AIM "salmon" virus?

Question

On my AOL Instant Messenger, I keep getting messages from a user named (Something)Salmon. It's always a different adjective, but the last word is always Salmon. I've seen CannedSalmon, ImpoundedSalmon, CompiledSalmon, SenileSalmon...and it's always some kind of news headline or political statement. Today it was "George Carlin: Rest In Peace" but before it has been, "See the secrets of Obama's militant church!" I always receive the message, but every time, according to the the other person, I'm the one who sent it and I also have a (Something)Salmon screen name. So far, it appears that none of the people involved are people on my actual buddy list. It seems rather harmless, but it's pretty annoying. Am I the only one wo has this problem? What should I do about it?

Answer 1

Best Answer - Chosen by Voters

It's not a virus, it's a bot reflector. It takes a random person's conversation and pairs them up with a fake screen name and IMs you that. I've heard that it gets usernames from recently updated livejournals.

Answer 2

I've never heard of it. sounds annoying. Well I don't know how to get rid of it, but I would try making a new screename. Tell all the people on your buddy list to add the new screename, then transfer everyone on your buddylist to the new screename. If that doesn't work and you don't get anymore solutions, be prepared to be annoyed!

Answer 3

The same thing just happened to me. I just blocked them.

Answer 4

thank god im not the only one getting this. i responded to the first one and me and whoever i imed got annoyed at eachother, each convinced that the other one was messing with us. i just block them when the "accept message" box comes up, but every time it happens i feel kinda paranoid