Every day, thousands of computer users are being duped into handing over their credit card information in a transaction that looks and feels legit, but is heinously wrong.
There’s a relatively new class of fraudulent programs out there that are brilliantly engineered both technically and socially, and the result is a trail of compromised credit cards. These programs go by safe-enough sounding names like ‘XP Antivirus 2009′ and ‘Antivirus 360′. They typically find their way onto your machine through either misleading website ads, pop-ups, or downloads from so-called free music and game sharing sites.
Once on your machine, they promptly go to work, popping up real-looking virus scan screens, giving you dire warnings that your system is infected, and offering to download the ‘fix’ for a small sum such as $39 or $49. Should you fall for this, you will be brought to a shopping cart where you make the ‘purchase.’
Unfortunately, what you shortly discover is that the ‘fix’ does nothing, and more often than not, your computer becomes further infected with other related viruses and malwares and performance becomes degraded to the point where you may completely lose Internet access, or Windows may become so severely corrupted that it will no longer start up, or will fail shortly after startup either by freezing, or by displaying the BSOD (Blue Screen of Death).
At Geek Housecalls, we probably get a dozen calls a day at this point from people whose systems have been corrupted by this vile malware, and with frightening regularity, they tell us that they’ve “‘already tried buying the fix and it didn’t work.’” It has not yet occurred to them that they handed their credit card over to a scam artist! Our advice to anyone that has done this is to run, not walk, to the nearest phone and contact your bank or credit card company - explain to them what has happened and they will advise you on the best course of action to take.
And your computer? well, it’s not going to fix itself. If you are a do-it-yourselfer, you may be able to remove the bug using tools available from help sites like majorgeeks.com, or you could completely wipe your system and reload windows and all your applications (make sure you back up any important data first!). Or if you prefer, you can hire a service company such as Geek Housecalls to clean up the infection for you.
This article was written by Andy Trask, Head Geek at Geek Housecalls, the New England area’s original traveling computer geeks, on the web at www.geekhousecalls.com. Geek Housecalls specializes in “anything computer” and, since 2001, has become the trusted in-home computer and technology support provider for over 15,000 families and small business computer users in eastern Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and southern New Hampshire. For help with your computers, gadgets, or network at home or at the office, click here to contact Geek Housecalls via the web, or call toll free:
1-877-4PC-GEEK (1-877-472-4335)
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