Microsoft joins suit against scareware scammers

Microsoft has joined Washington state in a lawsuit against scammers who use “scareware” to sell useless and often malicious software.  The vendors, who will not be identified until Monday, are being charged under the state’s Computer Spyware Act.  So called “scareware” is the name given to those programs that advertise via ads made to look like warnings from Windows XP or Vista. They usually “warn” the viewer that they may have an urgent sounding (yet fake) computer issue and that their software is needed to fix it. Instead, the consumer either wastes money on a useless program or ends up with spyware or malware on their system.

“The use of these fake messages is a growing problem on the Internet,” said Washington Assistant Attorney General Katherine Tassi in an interview earlier this week. “Scammers are getting more and more creative and putting more and more effort into making them look like security messages,” she said.

The most infamous scareware program today is Antivirus XP 2008.  It pretends to be a legitimate anti-virus program but actually nags anyone who installs it with endless fake security warnings that try and convince them they need even more worthless programs—some of which are malicious, others (such as toolbars) which are spyware.  It’s also very difficult to uninstall.

What makes this problem even more worrisome is that a recent study by North Carolina State University found that users are very likely to fall for the fake warnings-in their study nearly 2/3rd of their study volunteers clicked OK when presented with a fake pop up!