Microsoft, Washington state sue over 'scareware' pop-up ads (TX Firm)

[sonias]

Yahoo News
Microsoft, Washington state sue over 'scareware' pop-up ads

By Elinor Mills, CNET Mon Sep 29, 2:01 PM ET

Microsoft and the Attorney General's office in Washington state said on Monday they have filed a handful of lawsuits over pop-up ads that scare consumers into paying for software that supposedly fixes critical errors on a PC.

The lawsuit filed by the Attorney General's office alleges a Texas firm sent incessant pop-up ads that falsely claimed the computer had critical errors in its registry and directed people to a Web site where they could download free scanning software to find the problems.

The software then reports 43 critical problems and offers to sell a fix for $39.95. However, the software, dubbed "Registry Cleaner XP," does nothing but lull the consumer into a false sense of security, officials said.

It's a "blatant rip off of consumers," Washington State Attorney General Rob McKenna said in a news conference. Consumers were "duped into downloading a fake scan (of the computer) and then duped into paying for software they don't need."

Ha it takes the Washington AG's office to clean scammers out of Texas! :eyes:

Sonia

[Sailing]

1. Yeah, I've been seeing those a few times

The funny thing is, I run a Linux system. It always gives me a good laugh to watch those warning messages tell me about all the MS Windows files that are messed up on my computer.

:shrug: :rofl:

[sonias]

3. Well you are pretty smart McSailor - running Linux

:hi:


Sonia

[hobbit709]

2. And it's hell to clean out of a system.

It's out and out malware and a lot of times it has trojans buried in it. I've had to remove it from several computers where the customer clicked on the popup and got it into their system.

[sonias]

4. If you know of any of your clients you helped out with this

I bet you there's going to be some class action lawsuit on this. Keep your records!

I'm not holding my breath waiting for the Texas AG to join the case.


Sonia