On October 17, I wrote an article about some "scareware" that I had encountered online. In short, I described a certain web site that lies to you in an attempt to sell you some worthless anti-virus software. The full article is still available at http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2008/10/scam-an-online.html.
I was pleased to read today that the Federal Trade Commission got a court order to at least temporarily halt the "scareware" scheme.
According to the FTC, the scheme has tricked more than one million consumers into buying computer security products such as WinFixer, WinAntivirus, DriveCleaner, ErrorSafe, and XP Antivirus. The court also froze the assets of Innovative Marketing, Inc. and ByteHosting Internet Services, LLC to preserve the possibility of providing consumers with monetary redress.
"...froze the assets...to preserve the possibility of providing consumers with monetary redress..." I like that. Let's freeze the assets of all the scareware vendors and spammers and other online rip-off artists.
You can read more at http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/36235.
