Script redirects to website when opening a downloaded AVI file.

[B Nasty]

Hello,

I've downloaded a few movies lately and have noticed a trend.

When you go to open the AVI files to watch the movie, a script of some sort redirects you to a website. The website will ask you to complete a survey or download some software in exchange for a password to watch the movie.

Has anybody encountered this?

Is there any way around it?

Thanks,
B

[guns1inger]

Where are you downloading these movies from ? Somewhere legit ?

[freebird73717]

I'd be doing some heavy duty malware scans if I were you.

If an avi is opening your web browser to a site then you can pretty much bet that it (the file, the site, or both) is infected

[B Nasty]

Define Legit...

And I mean, of course its infected. Just by virtue that its opening my web browser is abnormal. The file is 650mb so I have a feeling theres a movie in there somewhere, even if its the wrong one I'd like to find out.

And yeah, I'll run malware/virus stuff.

[guns1inger]

So you haven't actually watched any of the movies. You just assume because it is movie size, it must be a movie.

There is no movie. You have wasted your bandwidth. This is a scam, pure and simple. If you aren't infected with something, consider yourself lucky.

[guns1inger]

Define Legit....

Honestly ? Ignorance is no defense

[B Nasty]

Why do I feel like your attacking me? Have I said something to offend you?


Anyways no, I haven't watched any of the movies. I haven't taken the time to download their "reccomended" software (virus possibly) or completed one of their surveys etc.

As to the assuming its a movie, well yeah, because of the size, it is at least warranted to open the code for the file and see what is going on. That is what the OP was about.

And as to the wasting of bandwidth. Um, who cares.

[B Nasty]

Define Legit....

Honestly ? Ignorance is no defense

Its a torrent. Ive downloaded hundreds of movies without a single problem. Lately, i've been running into this.

If you haven't encountered this, then I doubt your of any use to answering the original post.

Anybody out there have?

[guns1inger]

They are malware. There are a handful of different types floating around, and if you search the forums long enough you find several posts covering them. The best option is to delete them. If you download the recommended application to watch them, all you get is a virus, and maybe lose your credit card details to some very dodgy people. No studio distributes movies legitimately over bittorrent, and no movie downloaded by any means should require anything other than a standard player. If VLC/KM Player won't play it, it is either corrupt, or not a movie. if it says you have to download something else to watch it, it is definitely something you want to delete.

[hech54]

Have I said something to offend you?

Define "offend".

[DarrellS]

Warez rules
What is warez? Obtained IP (intellectual property: software/music/movies/tv-series/tv-shows) either through download, serial, or crack in a manner that either explicitly or implied breaks the copyright or license for that IP.

Do NOT give warez / Do NOT link to warez
Distributing warez. This includes linking to warez either directly or to crack or serial sites. Offering warez in any fashion including PM or e-mail is against forum policy.

Do NOT ask for warez
Asking for warez. In any fashion this is unacceptable including but not limited to PM or e-mail requests or information on what p-2-p network has copies.

Do NOT provide information on how to obtain warez
Providing information on how to obtain warez.

Do NOT advocate warez
Advocate warez. Recommending the use of warez


The files that you downloaded come from fake movies, usually movies that have not been released on DVD yet which should give you a clue that it is not a movie.

I can make a 10 second movie and make it 700MB easily and I can make it a message telling you to go to my website to get a password to play the movie that is not there. I would assume that probably the MPAA created these fake movies to bust people using torrents to steal their movies instead of buying them.

If you're stupid enough to go to their website to get the password then you deserve anything that you get.

[hech54]

That's one good description for "offend"....thank you darrells.

[Bjs]

If you want to know whats going on then us clever people use hex editors to load the file ... by reading down through the source in hex mode you can see the web url's embedded in the file ... the rest of the file beyond this point is garbage or pointless filler when compared against legitimate file source.

[Seeker47]

If you want to know whats going on then us clever people use hex editors to load the file ... by reading down through the source in hex mode you can see the web url's embedded in the file ... the rest of the file beyond this point is garbage or pointless filler when compared against legitimate file source.

Quite right . . . but I will extend this a bit further. With just a modest amount of experience, by means of such inspection you soon get to recognize what the legit media file types do or do not look like inside. And I can certainly tell whether it's an .Exe file or not. Further, you could run MediaInfo or GSPOT against the file, which should tell you something useful. These methods have never failed me, with a huge number of files checked regularly. (I don't torrent, but still encounter a great many suspect files.) After that, it's just a matter of whether the file is corrupt or not. There turn out to be plenty of them that have picture or sound issues, but I'm not running into any of the type you describe.

[davexnet]

I didn't think AVI files had script capability. Could they be renamed WMV, or even EXE files?
(for users who use the Windows default of hiding the file suffix).

[redwudz]

It's an old scam. The 'movies', if there are any in there, are not the same as the title, usually just some filler junk. The malware is the player they want you to DL.

And since this thread is not going to go anywhere and is basically discussing Warez... Locked.