Most of us have had that call from a less-than-tech-savvy relative, saying “I think I have a virus. The internet told me so, and I paid for their software, but my computer is still running really slow.” After you facepalm yourself into yesterday, you begrudgingly walk them through the steps of throwing their computer out the window.
The FBI has decided that they’re tired of fielding these calls, and have started targeting scareware, the face Anti-Virus popups that get you your relatives to install malware of their own free will. They’ve established cooperation with France, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Sweden, and the United Kingdom to seize 25 computers abroad on top of the 22 they’ve seized here in the US. The ring was estimated to have raked in $72 million over the past three years. On top of the usual pop-up type scams, the ring is said to have taken out digital ads on the Minneapolis Star Tribune, which were vetted by the newspaper before posting it on their site.
Source: Information Week
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