FTC Assassinates Spyware Spoofer

[Dravyk]

FTC Assassinates Spyware Spoofer

http://www.ecommercetimes.com/rsstory/41356.html

Ken Dunham, director of malicious code research at iDefense, said this FTC bust is probably just the beginning of government crackdowns on Internet fraudsters: "I expect to see additional actions taken by the government and other authorities to try to stop spamming, stop fraud and stop malicious attacks."

The Federal Trade Commission has barred an operation that offered bogus spyware detection scans. The free scanner "detected" spyware whether it was present on the user's computer or not in an underhanded attempt to peddle its non-working anti-spyware software, according to the government agency.

The U.S. District court has barred MaxTheater, the Spokane, Washington, firm behind the Spwyare Assassin product, and its principal, Thomas Delanoy, from making deceptive claims. The FTC will seek a permanent halt to the marketing scam and redress for consumers.

. . .

The free remote scan displays a pop-up message that states, "URGENT ERROR ALERT: You have dangerous spyware virus infections on your computer. Click OK to install the latest free update to fix these errors. Immediate action is highly recommended before you continue!"

Fraudulent Solution
During a second "local" scan consumers are warned that their computer is infected with spyware and a message flashes on the screen listing the names and file locations of the spyware on the system.

Even when the computer is clean of all spyware, the defendants report that spyware has been detected, and the file folders the defendants claim contain the spyware are either empty or contain files that do not contain spyware, according to the agency.

The pop-up that announces that consumers have spyware pops up automatically, even when the computer is clean and does not have spyware installed on it, according to the FTC.

Thirty-Dollar Deal
The defendants claim that the software they sell for US$29.95 will "remove all spyware programs and files" and will "prevent any future breaches." According to the FTC, the "anti-spyware" software does not remove all or substantially all spyware.

. . .

[Trev]

Originally posted by Dravyk@Mar 15 2005, 10:57 AM

Clever very... aherm... cough... Those dirty sons of bitches!


I still think it's bloody good though