DocuCrunch.com » Warn users about the ‘most costly’ scam of 2010

Warn users about the ‘most costly’ scam of 2010

March 16, 2010 by Sam Narisi
Posted in: In this week's e-newsletter, Latest News & Views, Security

Security firm McAfee has been warning computer users to recognize and avoid hackers’ latest go-to tactic:

Scareware.

Victims of the scam see a phony pop-up ad that tells them their computer is infected with a virus and they need to buy an anti-virus program. Those that fall for the ruse shell out money for the software, which turns out to be malware that steals personal information.

McAfee says its seen a 660% increase in scareware scams over the last two years, along with a 400% increase in reported incidents over the last 12 months. Scammers make an estimated $300 million wordlwide with scareware hoaxes, PCWorld reports.

Alert users in your company to the scam, letting them know the legitimate anti-virus software already installed on your network is more trustworthy than a random pop-up ad.

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2 Responses to “Warn users about the ‘most costly’ scam of 2010”

  1. Bob Says:

    The other big trend for 2010 will be RANDSOMware. Randsomware encrypts data on your hard drive, effectively holding it hostage until you put in a credit card number.

    Once the user puts in valid credit card data, expecting to be charged $10 or whatever the randsomware is asking for, they are charged thousands of dollars as their credit card is exploited.

    There are openly-available “hacks” to safely remove the most popular randsomware floating around right now.

  2. Jim Says:

    it boggles my mind how the folks selling the malware are allowed to continue this scam year after year – it’s not like they are hard to find – it’s the same ones, they have annual updates and rename their stuff with the extention 2008 – 2009 – 2010 ~ this isn’t new ~


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