Dangerous Links, Phishing, and WOT
A recent article of mine has proven very popular. It discussed the recent epidemic of “rogue” antivirus and anti-spyware programs that is plaguing the Internet these days — such as Virus Response Lab 2009, Antivirus XP, and — literally — hundreds of others.
These programs are really the tools used by cyber-criminals to infect your machine with malware… not clean it up, as you’re led to believe. (The article link [above] has a video demonstrating a rogue program.) As a bonus, you’re asked to provide your credit card number to buy the “full” (or, “Pro”) version.
What do you think criminals do with those cc#’s????
Regular readers are aware that I frequently post ‘alerts’ to the latest scams arriving via e-mail. Spam.
Here the latest, a classic phish:
from: AccountRobot_donotreply@e-gold.com
Subject: Notification of e-gold account update
What I’d like you to notice is the red circle next to the hyperlink .
That is the WOT (Web Of Trust) toolbar’s (now automatically integrated into Gmail, because I’m viewing it in a browser) website rating.
I’m no rocket scientist.. but I am pretty sure red means “bad”.. and/or, “stop”.
This website rating — with its easy to understand color code — tool can really save you a lot of pain and loss from phishing and poisoned websites; because the criminals are going to tremendous efforts to make their scams look legit (and to poison truly legit sites).
I’ll say it again– the Internet today is a very insecure and dangerous place!
There are many anti-phishing tools and plug-ins and filters to choose from (some are built into your browser, if you enable them) but if you want a quick, clean, easy to understand warning tool– give the WOT toolbar a try.
Copyright 2007-8 © Tech Paul. All rights reserved.
post to jaanix
| Share this post : |  |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
8 Comments »
Post your Comment/Question
• About Tech Paul
I am a Retired computer & network technician. I used to think the machines were pretty cool. Now I don’t.
They’re anything but.
I regularly posted how-to’s and tricks & tips and general computing advice here starting in 2007. (Use the Search tool to find answers. But be aware, many are rather dated.) Sometimes I answered (your) specific questions in an article if I believed the answer was generally helpful to “everyone”. All the writing you see was my own, typos and all. There always is/was an implied “IMHO” in what you see here.
Note: You are responsible for using this blog and its content. I am in no way liable for any losses caused by user error, viruses and/or other malware, hardware or software failure, or any other conceivable reason.
-
Say "thank you!" Buy Tech Paul a cup of coffee (and keep T4E ad free).
-
-
McAfee® Cybersafety Resource Portal, an online help center designed to assist victims of computer crime and provide information on how to avoid becoming a victim.
-
Subscribe to Tech--for Everyone by EmailRecent Comments
-
-
-
-
Also:
-
-
Tech - for Everyone 
[…] lewisshepherd wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptA recent article of mine has proven very popular. It discussed the recent epidemic of “rogue” antivirus and anti-spyware programs that is plaguing the Internet these days — such as Virus Response Lab 2009, Antivirus XP, and — literally — hundreds of others. These programs are really the tools used by cyber-criminals to infect your machine with malware… not clean it up, as you’re led to believe. (The article link [above] has a video demonstrating a rogue program.) As a bonus, you’re asked to provide your credit card number to buy the “full” (or, “Pro”) version. What do you think criminals do with those cc#’s???? Regular readers are aware that I frequently post ‘alerts’ to the latest scams arriving via e-mail. Spam. Here the latest, a classic phish: from: AccountRobot_donotreply@e-gold.com Subject: Notification of e-gold account update […]
LikeLike
Pingback by Dangerous Links, Phishing, and WOT | October 10, 2008 |
[…] here to see the original: Dangerous Links, Phishing, and WOT Categories: Online ScamTags: anti-spyware, computers, cyber-crime, dangerous-links, fraud, hackers, […]
LikeLike
Pingback by Dangerous Links, Phishing, and WOT | Conning Us | October 10, 2008 |
how to remove “virus response lab2009”. it had been istalled in my system. pls help me
LikeLike
Thanks, Paul, for pointing out Gmail can be made safer with WOT. We have a short video, How to make Gmail safer, about that very subject.
And because our WOT users asked for it, look for WOT support of other popular web-based email programs in the near future.
LikeLike
[…] Dangerous Links, Phishing, and WOT(13 October 2008) A recent article of mine has proven very popular. It discussed the recent epidemic of 8220rogue8221 antivirus and antispyware programs that is plaguin… […]
LikeLike
Pingback by SOMERSET | October 13, 2008 |
Hussain–
I recommend wiping your hard-drive and starting fresh, or hiring a professional to deal with these horribly nasty infections.
However– the words “Virus Response” in the article are a clickable link to Bill Mullins article on removal techniques.
LikeLike
Deborah–
I look forward to being able to announce the improvements in your toolbar.. I hope we don’t have to wait too long!
LikeLike
Thanx a lot
LikeLike