A recent article in the New York Times reported that the people responsible for the “Antivirus XP 2008” scam and it’s successor “Antivirus XP 2009” can theoretically make as much as $5 million a year. This type of scam, often referred to as “scareware,” tries to trick the user into buying fake antivirus software by scaring them with false reports of infections. A naive user panics when the warnings pop up on their computer and hands over $49.95, thinking they will get software to disinfect their computer. Instead, all they get is a smaller bank account, a computer that is very difficult to repair, and a lesson learned the hard way.
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