Scareware Adopts SMS Payments

According to security researchers, some scareware programs have begun featuring SMS payments, a method more commonly seen in ransomware scams.

Fake programs, especially those masquerading as security solutions, continue to pose a major risk to consumers, despite the continued awareness raised by security experts.

Known as scareware or rogueware, these programs are being distributed in a variety of ways, including by email, search results poisoning, drive-by download attacks or as a payload for other infections.

But, regardless of distribution method, all these rogue applications rely on scare tactics to obtain money from individuals, hence their name.

They display alerts about fictitious malware infections or other system problems and claim to be able to resolve them if a license is purchased.

Traditionally, payment is done via credit card. However, with people's increasing reluctance to use their credit cards on unknown sites and the diminishing number of payment processors friendly to cyber crime, scareware pushers are looking into other methods.

According to antivirus vendor CyberDefender, cyber criminals are currently experimenting with SMS payments, along with WebMoney, paid calls or RUR Vkontakte.

One scareware variant which poses as antivirus solutions from Avast, Norton, McAfee, BitDefender or RootKitBuster allows users to select their country and asks them to send an SMS with a special activation code to a short number.

CyberDefender's threat research director, Achal Khetarpal, told CNET that this variant is being distributed from malicious links inserted in search results for trending topics, in what is known as black hat SEO.

SMS payments are not something new in scams. It is actually pretty common with ransomware applications of Russian origin which hold computers or data hostage until users pay for unlock codes.

Users are advised to ignore security alerts from programs they didn't install and use applications such as Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware which are particularly good at cleaning such infections.