Fake antivirus programs claim 30 million victims

By Jacqui Cheng | Published: October 17, 2008 - 05:56AM CT
More than 30 million Internet users have fallen victim to fake antivirus programs that snatch up people's money and personal information, security research firm PandaLabs has announced. The phenomenon may not be a new one, but it's growing more and more popular as the scammers are getting more crafty. There are now over 7,000 variants of this type of adware, says PandaLabs, and the number of infections caused by it is increasing rapidly.
Users can get infected with this fake antivirus scam in the same manner as any other type of virus or malware—by downloading questionable content from P2P networks, opening e-mail attachments from unknown addresses, or visiting malicious web pages. As most of us already know (probably by servicing the computers of our parents and other less-tech-savvy family members), users are often duped by seeing the software pop up windows that claim the machine is infected, fake bluescreens, or cause other annoyances (PandaLabs notes one where cockroaches crawl all over the desktop).

Many users are motivated to fork
over money to get rid of this ASAP
While many Internet users know not to hand over private information or credit card numbers just because of a few pop-ups, PandaLabs estimates that three percent of them have provided personal details to the purveyors of products that claim to disinfect computers. "Extrapolating from an average European price of €49.95, we can calculate that the creators of these programs are receiving more than €10 million per month," writes PandaLabs.
That is, of course, ignoring the greater financial implications of users handing over their credit card numbers to scammers—the firm notes that, if those numbers are being used fraudulently, then the cost to consumers is obviously quite a bit higher.
Of course, the fact that 30 million users may have fallen for such a scam doesn't surprise us too much. A recent study by the Psychology Department of North Carolina State University revealed that most Internet users don't exercise much caution when presented with fake dialog boxes and pop-up windows with obvious warning signs of malware. Additionally, security software maker AVG found earlier this year that men tend to be much more confident about their online security knowledge than women, but they both end up suffering from identity theft in equal amounts. It just goes to show that even when users talk the talk, they don't always walk the walk when it comes to being safe online.



Report: Fake antivirus programs claim 30 million victims

Hello Norm!

It still amazes me that people will 'surf the net' with no protection; seeing that there are great programs such as these available for free; at the links below.

Comodo Firewall Pro

Avast Antivirus Home

Spybot - Search & Destroy








Later Ted

I don't use any active program while surfing the net other than Vista's firewall.

I do however scan with ad-aware, spybot...

I never run into any problems, and I don't waste my money on expensive virus protection because it's not needed for "smart" computer users lol.

I almost got a fake antivirus program but caught it and ended the window with the task manager. (just got lucky I guess)

A friend recently gave me a laptop to look at. It had Antivirus 2008 on it. What a beast it is. I finally removed it, I thought, but then, BSOD every time some component I'd missed tried to run. The upshot was, Reformat. Reinstall. I am convinced you can't remove this vicious little nasty.

Originally Posted by NormCameron

I am convinced you can't remove this vicious little nasty.

It is possible. I've managed to do it on a friends computer. She's happier than ever with her laptop now. Somehow my friends seem to get happier with their computers after I've fiddled around a bit with them than I get by fiddling with my computer... Kind of annoying.

It just goes to show that even when users talk the talk, they don't always walk the walk when it comes to being safe online.

More truthful words have not been uttered recently...

I am convinced you can't remove this vicious little nasty.

It's a Zlob Trojan variant and is easily removed with MalwareBytes AntiMalware (MBAM) program, and other reputable AM programs. It is one of today's easiest to catch malware, it really does nail allot of less savvy users (and even savvy ones too) with it's social engineering techniques, but it can be removed effectively.

I agree BFK, I don't care WHO you are or how well you think you know PC security, if you run around without proper protection, you are going to pay for it sooner or later. I Do know security having worked inside the industry and worked with many well known antimalware developers, and I know how well a properly designed threat can defeat even a seemingly well defended system. So having minimal protection (say...just a firewall..) just won't cut it if you come across some of the REAL threats out there.
I've decompiled and tested well over 1500 malware variants, and some are so well crafted that almost anything you have for defences can be defeated at times. These are not "Skript-kiddie" threats, these are designed by professional engineers and take into account just about everything you may have to protect yourself...and then they defeat them. Any software protections can be defeated because new ways to get around things are discovered daily, so even the best protections can fall if you run across a real 0-day threat designed by a professional at the wrong time. Having quality security products gives you a better chance to avoid infections but they will never guarantee full security, having minimal protection is just asking for trouble...your choice I guess.

Anyone who says that they surf at will with minimal or no protection and NEVER have had a problem, should put another little word in that sentence..."yet".
They simply have to wait for the day they to come (and it will) when they get bitten, or they probably aren't telling the entire truth about never being infected by something before.

It's a Zlob Trojan variant and is easily removed with MalwareBytes AntiMalware (MBAM) program, and other reputable AM programs. It is one of today's easiest to catch malware, it really does nail allot of less savvy users (and even savvy ones too) with it's social engineering techniques, but it can be removed effectively.

Hi chappie, I used MalwareBytes AntiMalware, as per advice from this forum, I believed I got it all but every now and then something tried to run, giving me a BSOD "No Video Driver?". So I did a reinstall.