Closing In On The Software Scammers

Posted Friday 12th December 2008 by Kerry in Uncategorized.

The US government have confirmed they are closing in on internet fraudsters who are trying to sell fake security software to innocent buyers.

In a bid to stop the sellers of the non-existent software from trading online, The Federal Trade Commission has successfully made an example of a couple of the big culprits of the scam, of which over a million people in the US and an estimated 5 million worldwide, have already fallen victim to.

The scam advises internet users to purchase a piece of security software that can issue alerts about any potential viruses or illegal porn. Peddlers have also been able to persuade some of the top websites to advertise links to their site. Once these adverts are clicked on, they are directed to a website run by the fake security firms who claim to search for security threats by running a scan.

Every single scan then conveniently finds a collection of security risks and as a result, strongly encourages the customer to buy their protective software.

However, what customers don’t realise is that not only is the scan completely false, so too are the products they believe they are purchasing.

Through seeking legal advice, the FTC has been able to expose two companies who have been playing host to the dirty scam. Innovative Marketing, Inc. and ByteHosting Internet Services, LLC. The false products they are selling to their customers include WinFixer, WinAntivirus, DriveCleaner, ErrorSafe, and XP Antivirus.

As a result of this identification, the US government have forbidden both companies from advertising the fake products on their websites. All those websites who have allowed Innovative Marketing, Inc. and ByteHosting Internet Services, LLC to advertise with them, have been asked to block customers from accessing their links. The assets of both companies have also been frozen to allow all cash they have stolen, to be refunded to their customers. At 40-60 dollars a time, those assets will certainly be substantial.

Such a high number of victims were made possible because of the sophisticated style of the scam. Many of the ’scareware’ firms advertised their products on search engines and even changed their tactics for different territories. They clearly had a grasp of the different markets they were targeting.

The FTC is now continuing their campaign to win a permanent ban of those trying to sell the product.

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