Makers of fake anti-virus software are exploiting search engines to drive people to sites peddling 'scareware'.Using popular and mis-spelled search terms, the criminals divert people to sites that are seeded with fake warnings about virus infections.
The pop-up warnings claim that a visitor’s PC is riddled with malicious programmes and spyware.
Research suggests some criminals are making as much as $10,000 a day from fake security software.
Through its research, Finjan got access to the web-based systems that one group of 'scareware' peddlers used to manage their search engine campaigns.It found that, over a 16-day period, more than 1.8m people were re-directed to the sites pushing the ‘scareware’. Of those visiting the sites 7-12% installed the fake software and 1.79% paid $50 for it.