Some anti-virus software is actually malicious rogueware

Web users deceived into downloading malicious anti-virus software

Organized criminal gangs are exploiting security-conscious internet users by tricking them into downloading and paying for anti-virus protection which is actually malicious software – known as scareware – in disguise.

Often operating on a commercial scale, these gangs target victims through cold calls and by deceiving legitimate webmasters into advertising phony software for a 'pay per download'.

Evidence from some of the most serious 'malicious anti-virus' (also known as rogueware) cases known to date indicate that organized gangs stand to make millions while victims are left out-of-pocket, their bank details stolen and their computers seriously compromised, say experts at GetSafeOnline.org, the UK’s national internet security initiative.

Typically posing as help desk staff from legitimate IT companies, fraudsters prey on consumers concerned about protecting their computers by trying to sell them fake security software or by warning them that their machine has been infected and they have to pay to fix the problem.

Victims are misled into thinking that their computers are infected with malicious software which can be fixed at a nominal cost – usually around £30 ($50) to download a patch. The ultimate goal is to obtain credit card information or secure remote control of the victim’s computer for other illegal activity, such as identity fraud or to launch phishing attacks that are then untraceable