Scammers Set Eyes on BitTorrent Users

On April 12, 2010, the security experts issued a warning that attackers are targeting BitTorrent users in a new scam trying to create anxiety and compelling them to pay money to avoid imprisonment and fines, as per the news published by SCMAGZINE on April 12, 2010. BitTorrent is a file sharing application.

Security firm F-Secure says that this extortion maneuver starts out when a Trojan is implanted on the victim's computer. It then gives -ups in BitTorrent. However, the manner in of the installation of Rogue:W32/DotTorrent.A, the malicious software, on the affected machines is still not known.

As stated by Mikko Hypponen, F-Secure's chief research officer, the pop-ups wrongly tell naïve users that unlawful torrents from their machines have been detected by the scanner, and in case they do not give around $400 in the form of "pre-trial settlement," they might have to face rigid penalties, as per the news published by SCMAGZINE on April 12, 2010.

Moreover, this phony alert regarding the violation copyright claims ICPP Foundation as its sender. ICPP Foundation is a fake Switzerland-based firm, and on April 12, 2010, its website that targeted filesharers became inaccessible.

Not only this, when the victims are passed on to the website, they are allegedly warned that they might face a five year imprisonment and a fine of $250,000 for the offence they have committed. Further, an option to drag the fake case to court is also given to them.

If someone willing to appeal to the court click on the 'court' option, a pop-up message appears on the screen. This fake message recommends cancellation of the action and selection of the option pre-trial settlement.

This entire act appears to be quite similar to the one made by the supposed "scareware" or "rogueware" which seems beneficial from security point of view, but in actual terms, give very little security, produces wrong warnings, or tries to lure people for being a part of fake transactions that might put them into trouble.

Though it might sound impractical to completely stop or prevent such incidences, consumers can at least be well-equipped with cyber best practices, and take precautions to avoid falling for such scams.

Related article: Scammers Exploit Tax System Resulting in ID Theft

» SPAMfighter News - 5/3/2010