Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by rrr_oh_man 804 days ago
Maybe because of that stupid screaming warning banner on the website:

WARNING: YOU MAY BE BEING SCAMMED! If you are on the phone with someone you DON'T know AND TRUST who has asked you to install RustDesk, do not install and hang up immediately. They are likely a scammer trying to steal your money or other private information.
3 comments
jchw 804 days ago
That's a pretty good warning, though! People use remote access software like TeamViewer to scam people out of money constantly, there's entire offices where people go to work just to scam people out of their money using this software.

It's such a huge problem that it really does warrant all of this attention.

link
rrr_oh_man 804 days ago
> It's such a huge problem that it really does warrant all of this attention.

It seems to be such a huge problem only for this particular service, then?

link
jchw 804 days ago
Nope, it's a huge problem for all of them, it has been a huge problem with TeamViewer for ages. However, putting these large banners up likely helps ensure that it's actually not a huge problem for Rustdesk. It's more likely to be a huge problem for services that don't put up these banners. That's exactly why you put up these banners, you don't really want to be a part of enabling these scams.
link
AndrewDucker 804 days ago
That kind of warning exists because a lot of people are being scammed. Warning people not to let strangers have access to their PC seems like the right thing to do.
link
rrr_oh_man 804 days ago
It can be done much more elegantly. E.g. when you’re trying to actually set up a connection and not on the front page for all of your users coming to the site, especially those with `Referer=news.ycombinator.com`
link
SturgeonsLaw 804 days ago
Yeah, easy fix, just host the client somewhere yourself and direct users/family to download it from there
link
dvfjsdhgfv 804 days ago
> Maybe because of that stupid screaming warning banner on the website

Why do you call it stupid?

link
rrr_oh_man 804 days ago
1] best case it makes it look like a shitty marketing website trying to create fake urgency to sell you a subscription product

(I instinctively closed the website)

2] worst case it looks like they don’t have their shit together with scammers and need to shake the confidence of all users in the process

Not a fan of either.

link