Other LanguagesMore than 30 million Internet users have fallen victim to fake antivirus programs that grab people's money and personal information, security research firm PandaLabs recently announced. There are now more than 7,000 variants of this type of adware, the company says, and the number of infections is rapidly growing.
Users can be infected in several ways: browsing Web pages with adult content, downloading files from peer-to-peer networks and responding to e-greetings. The programs warn users that the computer is infected while simultaneously bombarding them with annoying pop-up windows and screensavers. PandaLabs estimates that 3 percent of consumers have provided personal details to the creators of these bogus products.
Washington is the first state to pursue cases against fake anti-spyware/virus programs and we remain the leader in the fright fight . Most recently, the Attorney General’s Office announced a case against the marketers of Registry Cleaner XP.