This is a scam by email spammers.
There is a new type of website pop-up/pop-under where you will see a scantily clad woman asking you to decode the letters of different configurations. Once you enter your answer it is recorded and the picture changes, removing more of her clothing.
How is this a scam?
Your answer is being captured and used to decode the CAPTCHA pictures for whatever website they are trying to attack. The sites that are being attacked could be forums, email account providers, and other online social communities they are trying to target. SPAM can affect more than just your email inbox these days.
In this particular example the Spammers are going after Yahoo email setups where the software automatically generates a mass of valid Yahoo email accounts. Spammers will then use these open email accounts to eventually send SPAM email. The ISP’s won’t catch it because it will see that it’s from address is a valid Yahoo email account.
But Melissa is so pretty; can I just enter the wrong info?
You could if you wanted to, but the game won’t let you go any further. When you start the game there is an automated program somewhere else on the Internet that is applying for a new email address, once you enter the code it takes your information and enters it into the email address application on another website. Their automated program will know it’s correct when the other application jumps to the new email account approval page.
That is how it knows if you got the right answer or not.
What bothers me most about this idea though is that children can be exposed to it. Potentially it could be put on a website that is not considered Adult oriented material (i.e. one that sells cell phone ring tones). In some cases Adult website blocking programs will miss it since it will either be on a pop-up or pop-under.
What should you do?
A company called Trend Micro makes a program that detects this Trojan horse program.
Then again you could close the image and just not play along.