3/15/2011
By: Gregg Keizer
A new record has been reached by cyber-criminals. Less than 3 hours after the earthquake in Japan, the internet was filled by scams. Scams range from links to fake anti-virus downloads and phony donation sites to classic online frauds that rely on greed. Even Facebook has been used by cyber-crooks to collect information when users click on a link posing as CNN video footage of the tsunami that struck the eastern cost of Japan Friday. Scammers are also flooding e-mail inboxes with messages asking recipients to donate money to relief efforts. A large number of domains with URLs have been registered that seems legitimate and ask for donations. The Internet Crime Complaint Centre-- which is run jointly by the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center – issued an alert advising people to be cautious of responding to such requests.
There is nothing new about such fraudulent activities on the internet. I am sure that you too get at least 10 to 15 spam e-mail a day with subjects ranging from asking for donations to confirmation on your ATM card transactions or e-mails from the director of FBI or CIA..... There are still a number of people who may be fooled by such scams either because of their greed or simply because they are too trustful.
This latest scam --fake anti-virus -- is a whole different story and one of the worst. You are under the impression that if you don’t take action, your system is in jeopardy. So obviously, you want to stop the virus to compromise all your data or even wipe out your whole system. The way it works is: while you’re browsing the internet, a pop-up shows with a message that a Trojan virus has been detected. To remove it you are prompted to click and download the anti-virus for it. The page that you are forwarded to looks very legitimate, sometimes an exact replica of a Microsoft windows page, but in order to download the anti-virus software you have to pay. Depending on different packages the amount varies. Problem is once you’ve agreed to remove the Trojan you can’t exit this page and it takes control over your system. Even shutting down your computer will not work. Do not pay. One of the solutions to this problem is to restore your system to a previous date and you’ll get rid of the unwelcome guest who’s become the host. One of the giveaways to detect the fake message from the real one is that it doesn’t come from the anti-virus package that you have installed in your computer. I Hope this will help in case you encounter such a problem in your virtual tour on the Net.
Shabnam
