BBB & GigaParts Warn About PC Virus

Better Business Bureau (BBB) and GigaParts, a company which builds, fixes and upgrades PCs from its Huntsville (Alabama) plant, have cautioned users about an extremely widespread PC virus.

It is reported that this virus is created in such a way that it appears like an AV program. But in reality, it is a fake antivirus software that infects computers one by one. The fake antivirus is also called rogueware or scareware.

According to James Wood (Manager of GigaParts), if any computer, which has an antivirus already running, finds a window pop up stating that the system is infected, then it will appear very natural for the PC to suggest that the user scan his system for malware. However, this is a deception, said the manager, as reported by Waaytv on July 2, 2010.

According to Wood, the deception is telling the user to provide his credit card details so that he can maintain his PC malware free.

Wood also revealed that one out of every 2 PCs they got was actually infected with rogueware. Commenting on this, Michele Mason, Chief Executive Officer of BBB, Huntsville stated that the latest development demonstrated that it was a scam, as reported by Waaytv on July 2, 2010.

Further, it is worth noting that what BBB highlighted has already been reported by the security companies. As per McAfee, an antivirus company, rogue antivirus or scareware are flourishing. During Q1 2010, promotions on the Internet for useless AV software grew ten times.

In fact, McAfee's claims matched with that of Microsoft. The latter (Microsoft) told that its MSRT (Malicious Software Removal Tool) eliminated rogue antivirus from 7.8 Million computers during the second half of 2009 in contrast of 5.3 Million computers during the first half of the same year.

In addition, Sean-Paul Correll, Researcher at Panda Security, says that scareware is turning out as one of those business models that are sustainable, as reported by Usatoday during the 1st week of June 2010.

Meanwhile, the security company 'Symantec' had projected at the beginning of 2010 that scareware scams would escalate during 2010. Its forecast is in truth turning out correct.

Related article: BBA Outlines Steps To Ward Off Online Fraud

» SPAMfighter News - 7/12/2010