bogus

A woman whose business intentionally scammed computer users by means of bogus security software has been ordered to pay a $163 million fine. Kristy Ross was vice president of Innovative Marketing, a firm legally registered in Belize (likely for ... favorable tax purposes) but actually operating out of Ukraine. The company has been the subject of legal action by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for the past four years. (Source: ftc.gov ) Bogus Security Scan Attracted Customers Innovative Marketing's business was actually a scareware scam: placing bogus website ads that pretended to scan a user's ... (view more)

The theft of online security certificates by hackers thought to be from Iran may be even more serious than first thought. The stolen certificates include those for security agencies from the United States, United Kingdom and Israel. The security ... breach originates with DigiNotar, a Netherlands organization that produces Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificates which are used by webites. An SSL, for example, is used when home users connect to their banking web sites. Using the SSL certificate, information to and from the home PC to a bank website is encrypted and cannot be intercepted by a third ... (view more)

There's a new malware attack on Facebook and it's significant for multiple reasons. This attack in particular spreads through bogus links, and it appears to change form in line with news events. While there have been several similar scams in the ... past, they've usually involved tricking users into handing over personal data or outright hijacking accounts. Malicious Drive-by Downloads Initiated on Click The new Facebook attacks tricks users into clicking on a link to a supposed online video. Once the link has been clicked, a Trojan virus is automatically downloaded to the users' computer without ... (view more)

The last day to file your taxes in the U.S. is not until April 18, but hackers and online scumbags have long been preparing for the date. A number of new scams have since surfaced online, promising tax credits and other incentives for charitable ... donations. Online Tax Filing Up 6 Percent Since 2010 Almost 19 million people have already filed their taxes at home this year, which is up 6 per cent compared to 2010. For many, this will be their first time tackling the ominous task via the Internet and without the assistance of an accountant. Hackers realize that this is the time when taxpayers ... (view more)

A recent report by the BBC News claims that makers of rogue anti-virus software are making as much as $10,800 a day from selling their dubious fake security software to unknowing computer users. (Source: bbc.co.uk ) A typical scenario: a user ... misspells a web address in a browser and is instantly redirected to a forged web page. From there, the visitor is bombarded with bogus popup warnings claiming that the visitor's PC is infected with malicious programs. The warnings say you'll need to download and pay for anti-virus software costing about $50 to clean up the (non-existent) infection. This ... (view more)