The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) settled an agreement with individuals and companies who were caught running a massive fake antivirus campaign and, now, they plan on sharing the $8 million (5.6 million EUR) they won with a few hundred thousand consumers who paid certain amounts of money for scareware software.
We are constantly reporting how cybercrooks promote applications that instantly point out
false errors present in operating systems and hardware. In order to get them fixed, the Internet user is required to purchase the premium version of the product or activate it by paying for a license.
A first big step forward against these scammers was achieved by the FTC which managed to come to a settlement with Innovative Marketing and others that were found to launch such operations.
Winfixer, Drive Cleaner and
XP Antivirus were just some of the phony applications that allegedly repaired problems that didn’t exist in the first place for around 320,000 individuals.
“Consumers who receive checks must cash them within 60 days. The average amount of the checks will be $20, however the exact amounts will be based on the amount of individual loss. The FTC never requires consumers to pay money or provide information before redress checks can be cashed,” reads a statement from the FTC.
The checks will be mailed out to the victims in the upcoming period, but those who are not on FTC’s list can request a refund by calling 1-877-853-3541 or by visiting the agency’s refund page (ftc.gov/refunds).
Imagine, if the crooks agreed to pay $8 million (5.6 million EUR) from illegal profit, it means that they earned at least that amount. Hopefully, this victory against such scammers may discourage others from starting scareware-based malicious campaigns, or at least it should make them think twice.
Internauts are advised to avoid installing so-called antivirus software from any other location than the vendor’s official page or from trusted websites.
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