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People following clues that could reveal parts of the plot for best-selling author Dan Brown's upcoming book, 'The Lost Symbol,' didn't find what they were looking for Tuesday. Instead, they were led to a Web site that installed a fake anti-virus program on their PCs.
According to Wired, the scam is the result of a promotion on NBC's 'Today' show, in which host Matt Lauer reveals clues about 'The Lost Symbol' throughout the week. On the promotion's first day, this Tuesday, Lauer visited a research facility called 'Death Star' and asked viewers to identify the facility, which apparently is "a big part of the book." Naturally, these viewers googled 'death star research.' There's just one problem: an Eastern European cybercrime group was watching.
These hackers manipulated Google's search results page so it would link users to a malicious site. Once there, a program called 'Smart Virus Eliminator' installs itself by using pop-ups, mouse trapping, and a fake virus scan. The software sends the user tons of fake virus reports until they're fooled into paying between $59 and $79 for a 'registered version.' With hackers keeping an eye on what's popular, it's sometimes tough to avoid these sites. As always, keep a watchful eye when perusing the Web. [From: Wired]
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Comments
41
Subscribe to commentsMobile Phone DivaSep 10th 2009 5:05PM
Always some jerks messing up things for everyone else!!
I didn't get hit with this scam, but I've gotten pop-ups from similar scams. I knew they were fake and tried to exit, but they hijack the browser from closing. I had to force a shut down of the browser through task manager.
Bud GallantSep 10th 2009 8:03PM
How about use a mac?
Problem solved.
DR. SAUSAGESep 11th 2009 8:46AM
i don't understand. what do you mean by 'use a mac?
Jack EnrightSep 11th 2009 12:23PM
Yes, the Mac is one way to avoid the problem. I had the problem on my tower and could not get rid of the pesty pop-ups, but I bought a laptop with Vista installed, and no problem with the laptop running Vista.
AviceSep 11th 2009 1:30PM
Someone once said to me, "Well, there are PC users and then there are Mac users." She was a real ass, and I decided then I did not want to be one of them. When I took a class on an application there were two Mac users. They just sat there and ran off at the mouth about their wonderful Macs but guess what? They were the worst students in the room. They were so busy blowing that they couldn't figure out how to use the application. I also hated the grossly misleading Mac ads that implied that if you had a Mac you could send info from Chicago to New York!! As if you can't do that with a PC.
witSep 11th 2009 4:22PM
I actually have a mac & this same thing would pop up but in a different way. Anytime this comes up I would do command+q and then immediately delete all internet history. The same goes for pc's, if this comes up immediately close it all out (use cntrl+alt+del if needed to start task manager) then delete your internet history. My uncle & I are computer geeks & have had this problem & don't let it fool you! They can install themself & steal all your saved passwords online etc etc...
BethSep 11th 2009 6:43AM
Also, watch out for one called Green AV. If you see this one, get away from it! It somehow downloaded itself to my computer, and it had taken days and many communications between a friend and myself to get rid of it. Still not sure it's all gone.
RudySep 11th 2009 10:24AM
Try using malware bytes I think it is one of the best at getting rid of crap like that. you can get it at download.com (cnet)
Bob MontySep 11th 2009 3:27PM
Go to "find" and type in temp. It will display your temp folder where you can go in and look to see if any programs you did not want or order are lurking. Then delete them individually. Some of the viruses replicate themselves so the best thing is to hold down the control key while you click on a bunch one at a time and then hit the delete key.
SarahSep 11th 2009 3:38PM
Hi Beth you can also do a free virus scan thru microsoft "microsoft malicious software removal tool" , if you do a google search it is the link that says "download details" it's all free!! My friend had a big problem getting virus' and this cleaned her machine out for me and then I downloaded the "Windows Defender" it is free for 90 days then 50.00 a year after that. She hasn't had any problems since!!
Goodluck!
CompuDocSep 11th 2009 7:25AM
when presented with such sites, hold down the Alt key and press the F4 key, this tells the formost screen to close for you. Using this you can close your browser without clicking on the "fake" close button that they put on the image in the website.
SaraiSep 11th 2009 2:02PM
Thanks. I didn't know about the 'Control-F4'.
My grand & my sons accidentally allowed the PC virus to infiltrate my computer twice.
I was able to delete it from my computer programs as well as the registry using some other steps listed on a computer tech forum.
SaraiSep 11th 2009 2:08PM
Correction - I said 'Control F4'. Your instruction states 'Alt & F4'.
I will make sure to correct my notes.
I make a point of making notes & placing them in a file for possible future use whenever someone gives good advice pertaining to computer issues.
Mobile Phone DivaSep 11th 2009 2:39PM
Thanks for the info!! I'll be trying that next time I get one of those.
antiquerouSep 11th 2009 7:56AM
same thing happened to me...the same screen popped up and maybe 5yrs ago I would have believed what they were saying. But I closed each window out and closed all my open windows and then ran my McAfee antivirus and it found my PC to be 100% clean. Do not ever believe anything that pops up. Do you own cleaning and checking.
MOLLZERS4LIFESep 11th 2009 8:30AM
I got this virus myself and I just wanted to say that I was able to get rid of it for free by going back to the setting I had before it installed itself- it saved me $99! But this virus is awful, it lies and say you have trojans attacking your computer and everytime you try to delete them, your own software won't get rid of them because they're not really there. However, if you just ignore the virus, it WILL make real virus appear and steal your data, and by then it's to late to use your own software to get rid of them.
tutubaba658Sep 11th 2009 8:46AM
I had this scam happen to me. Scared me half to death at first. I couldn't get rid of the window so had to reboot. But first I did a virus check with my own program I have and saw I had no virus so knew it was a scam.
bailamalka74Sep 11th 2009 8:58AM
OMG! this scam happen to me, however I did not pay for the service. I had to take my lap top back to best buy and check the system out. To make sure non of my files were compromised. I end up losing all my data. I was told by best buy these virus are happening to computer who uses wireless to get the on the net. When the computer is plug in directly to the modem is little safer with a virus protection. Just have to be careful.
TJSep 12th 2009 9:11AM
WOW! Whats soooo weird is I've been deleting this message all morning and even just before I read this article. The diagram above looks identical to what I've been deleting. Talk about timing.
Flossie ThomisonSep 11th 2009 4:47PM
I had the same thing happen to me. A warning came on the screen about Trojans and I had a hard time getting rid of them. I still believe there was something to it because a few days later I received an e-mail from paypal that they had closed my account because of an increase of hits because someone was trying to get into my account. So maybe there was something to this virus after all.