Scareware
The Wall Street Journal had a great article covering scareware on Wednesday, April 15th. These are often browser pop-ups that try to convince you that your computer is infected and for just $39.95 (with your credit card), all your troubles (caused by these guys) will disappear. I first experienced this stuff while using my Macintosh, so the visual elements of the pop-ups (they often have a Windows look & feel) suggested I was being scammed. But, if I was an average Internet user, I would have a hard time knowing what was really going on. According to the article, this problem is going to get worse before it gets better: The number of known scareware programs tripled from July 2008 to December 2008. The makers of these programs pull in hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. If it works, why would they stop? What’s an average Internet user going to do to protect themselves?
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