Bogus anti-spyware makers ahead of law in South Korea

0 Comments | AFP, December, 2006

SEOUL (AFP) — Bogus anti-spyware makers are a growing source of public concern in IT powerhouse South Korea, a top online security firm has said. Taking advantage of legal loopholes, many fraudulent anti-spyware makers extorted money from users by lying that they had found intrusive programmes on users' computers, AhnLab said Wednesday.

"Through pop-up windows, they claim malwares such as viruses, worms or trojans were scanned on your computer and ask for money to treat those malwares," AhnLab spokesman Park Keun-Woo said. "In many cases, however, those scanned programmes are simply non-existent or cookies that are not really harmful for your computer and can be easily erased," he told AFP. Many of those deceptive anti-spyware makers hire part-time workers to spread their...