March 18, 2010
-
Know Your Scareware, Pt.1
Cyber-criminals bathing in a sea of wealth.Just when you thought you found a company you could trust, you discover it was just a cover-up for another creative credit card fraud and identity theft scam. While employees of the Innovative Marketing Ukraine were living high off the hog, online consumers were being duped into believing they were purchasing safe scareware programs. In actuality, the program installed fake viruses and convinced the customer to pay $50 to $80 to clean up the computer. Believing the company was safe, customers readily handed over their credit card numbers not realizing they were feeding cyber-criminals. Before long, Innovative had more business than they could handle. The company began hiring new human resource personnel, IT experts, and call center staff to handle calls from disgruntled credit card consumers demanding refunds.
Call center employees were trained to pacify the callers and convince them to purchase the computer clean-up program. Innovative offered extravagant incentives and monetary rewards to young people looking for a fast track to success. Employees were treated to lavish parties, picnics, and high ticket activities all at credit card consumers' expense. Innovative specialized in designing the fake antivirus software known as scareware which is often referred to as rogueware. Fake antivirus software is the fastest growing method of identity theft and credit card fraud on the internet today.
Cyber-criminals are bathing in a sea of wealth while consumers across the globe and financial institutions are picking up the tab. According to Panda Security, one of the world's leading creators and developers of antivirus programs, estimates that nearly 35 million computer owners worldwide have been victimized by these fake antivirus cyber-criminals each month. Ethan Arenson, Attorney with the Federal Trade Commission who assists the agency with its fight against cyber-crime, says that the fake antivirus racket affects nearly 3.5 percent of all computers. Overall, globally these victims have lost more than $400 million annually to this credit card theft, not to mention the cost of computer repairs and loss of data.