BEIJING, October 19 (Xinhuanet) -- Despite continued warnings in the media and by anti-virus software firms, millions of Internet users are falling victim to scams that leave them open to hacking and identity theft, Internet security firm Symantec said this week. In particular more than 40 million Internet users have in the last year fallen victim to criminals targeting them with fake security software.
Symantec says such downloads are not only harmful but allow criminals to obtain the victim's credit card details or other private information. The firm has identified 250 versions of what it terms "scareware" which may earn criminals more than 1.2 million U.S. dollars every year.
The fake software is often distributed through the use of pop-up advertisements which are deliberately designed to look legitimate, using the same typefaces as Microsoft and other well-known software providers. Falsely warning that a computer's security has been compromised, Internet users are duped into downloading the software for a fee of around 100 dollars.
Con Mallon, from Symantec, warned the purchase had two major risks. "Obviously, you're losing your own hard-earned cash up front, but at the back end of that, if you're transacting with these guys online you're offering them credit card details, debit card details and other personal information," he said. "That's obviously very valuable because these cyber criminals can try to raid those accounts themselves or they can then pass them on or sell them to others who ultimately will try to use that information to their benefit not yours."
Symantec says that some criminals were also extorting money from victims. "[They] could hold your computer to ransom where they will stop your computer working or lock up some of your personal information, your photographs or some of your Word documents," Mallon said, "They will extort money from you at that point. They will ask you to pay some additional money and they will then release your machine back to you."
The report published by Symantec bases its findings on data collected from July 2008 to June 2009.
(Agencies)
