ESET warns over anti-virus piracy rise

Anti-virus vendor says telephone-based scams are becoming more popular following several calls from concerned consumers

Cold calling: The scammers frighten the victims into believing their computers are infected

ESET UK has spoken out to highlight the growing threat posed by telephone scammers selling fake or cracked anti-virus software.

The anti-virus vendor said it has seen an increase in calls from concerned consumers caught out by telephone-based scams – but stressed the trend is not limited to ESET products.

Posing as high-profile companies such as Microsoft or an affiliate, the scammers scare their victims into believing their computers are infected.

The victim is then duped into coughing up sums of up to £79 in some cases to clean the computer and have a different anti-virus software product installed.

David Harley, director of malware intelligence at ESET, said: “Fake or pirated anti-virus is a growing problem.

“In the past it has been limited to onscreen pop-ups, but I guess low internet telephony rates now mean it is just as cheap to call a victim as it is to wait for them to drop by your web site.”

Steve Burn of hpHosts Online said he had been following such scams for some time and explained how they work.

“The details vary, but typically the caller is asked to open up an Event Viewer to see the 'evidence' of infection, before being asked to download remote desktop software in order for the technician to rectify the problem,” he said.

“Using the Event Viewer is how most people are persuaded that something is wrong with their machine, but in actual fact it simply reports information, warnings and errors regarding programs and Windows services.”