Personal Antivirus just scareware

By Paul | May 22, 2009

I was going through checking a site brought to my attention from a reader and I went there and yep he told me it might be scareware and it was:

If you click “Cancel” or “Ok” you will still get to this page:

It is on the Malicious site : http://maleware-live-pro-scanv1.com. You can also see it tries to scare you with the tactic of knowing your IP address and where you are in the world, it’s called Geo-ip Location. It tries to convince you have a virus, but in reality it is just trying to scam you out of money. Although if you go to the site you will see that there is no company information. That is the first clue this is a scam or scareware.

Personal Antivirus gets installed in unsuspecting computers by way of exploits, backdoors, Trojans, or unsafe downloading practices. This usually means that if you have it you should remove it by any means necessary because this software has been know to cause more and more trouble as time goes by. This software is fake ware, it tries to tell you have a virus and that they can get rid of it. In fact, this software is not designed with Antivirus engine in it but to illicit pop ups and warning to raise the users security concerns about the computer in question. Downloading programs from bit torrents or other unsafe ways can and most likely will have these types of programs installed alongside the program you wanted.

*Personal Antivirus Scareware Site and How to Remove it*

Threat to System : Moderate

Rating:

Advice : Do a Complete system scan and make sure you don’t have any more hidden malware. Most of the time if you have one Trojan, you usually have more. Personal Antivirus has been know to have some type of program installed on the system in question and should be removed.

I recommend :

Download SUPERAntiSpyware

AVG Internet Security - Tough on threats.

Download Malwarebytes

SUPERAntiSpyware now has an ONLINE Scanner that you can use to help get rid of some of the malware that keeps you from running your anti-virus. You should give it a try....

If your current Anti Spyware software let an infection through, you may want to consider buying SuperAntiSpyware Pro for $29.95 or Buying Malwarebytes for $24.95 are two of the best anti-virus software in my opinion which features highly advanced Real-Time Protection to ensure protection from installation or re-installation of potential threats as you surf the Internet.

(Both Malwarebytes and SuperAntiSpyware are trusted Vendors by CCSS Forums).

On a side not, if you are wondering why I think I know I am not infected with these virus for those who are probably asking that question is because I already have a dependable free anti-virus software installed. Don’t forget to visit the Forums for other ways to watch for spyware or scareware. I will always recommend buying antivirus software from vendors you know and not ones that are fly by the night scams.

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peapod

having an antivirus program won't help until it becomes a virus...there is nothing to detect until you proceed with the scam. it may be undetectable before.

Laforge129

Actually,

Most Anti-virus will pick the Trojan installer before you even know it
tried it. I had it do that twice with AVG. The installer is the virus
this is the by product because it installed it without your knowledge or
permission!!

nannygoats

Oops, forgot to mention that I do also have Norton Antivirus software on my machine, so I have a regular virus checker.

Do you know what causes the browser redirect in the first place? Is there a virus on the server side of specific websites I'm hitting? I was on a Facebook application, with other tabs open to websites I can't recall at the moment, when it popped up.

Thanks for your response!

- Margaret

Laforge129

If it was in Facebook, I would be willing to bet some hidden redirect
was on the server side. Usually they buy ad space in Google and other
places to make more money or even to have this happen in the first
place. They usually have have a way for Pop up ads which is what that is
but they don't tell you this. If you disable pop ups in Internet
Explorer or Firefox this will typically stop these kind of scareware
tactics but not always.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scareware

Read the Wikipedia Article it should help explain how this happens
sometimes and about How they do Browser Redirects. There are several
ways this could happen and I wouldn't be able to tell you all of them
without first talking about the fundamentals of redirects and how they
came into being!!

nannygoats

Thank you for this information. These screens just appeared on my PC a few minutes ago, but did not fall for buying their product. I've heard that when these types of screens appear, you should click on the X(close) button on the window and to not click on CANCEL or anything else in the dialog box.

What I'm wondering is, how did I end up on their page in the first place? And, am I safe as long as I didn't fall for this particular scam? I ran a Malware check program I already had installed on my PC after exiting my internet browser - Malwarebytes.

Again, thank you for posting this information.

- Margaret

Laforge129

It is sometimes just a Browser redirects although if you keep going to a
site or not even browsing and this pops up you have a really bad chance
of having a rogue virus or worm that is trying to get you to purchase
these scareware programs. It is always best to have some kind of
Anti-virus installed like AVG or Mcafee Anti-virus and have them do a
full system scan. Malwarebytes is good on occasion but you should
always keep your Guard up.

Your Welcome,
If I find anymore I will post it!