A US man has been fined almost ?48,000 for marketing a bogus anti-spyware program.<\/p>\n
Zhijian Chen of Oregon made thousands of dollars by sending spam messages that fooled people into believing that their computers were infected by spyware, and claiming that a product called Spyware Cleaner was the cure.<\/p>\n
A lawsuit filed by Washington State Attorney General Rob McKenna stated that Spyware Cleaner falsely claimed that computers were infected in an attempt to encourage PC users to pay $49.95 for a ‘fully working’ version.<\/p>\n
According to court documents, Chen sent out emails and advertisements promoting Spyware Cleaner in exchange for a 75 per cent commission on each sale.<\/p>\n
A number of other people are also facing charges of spamming and using nefarious and deceptive marketing practices to promote the software.<\/p>\n
“Many computer users live in fear of spyware and viruses, and if they receive a legitimate looking warning message they could easily follow the advice to purchase clean-up software,” said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos.<\/p>\n
“Displaying a bogus detection message on an innocent person’s computer with the intention of selling software is simply despicable.<\/p>\n
“Let this be a warning that the authorities are prepared to investigate and punish those who engage in this kind of criminal activity.<\/p>\n
“Several criminal gangs are in the business of persuading people to download software by misrepresenting a program as necessary to protect a computer’s security or privacy.”<\/p>\n
from [url=http:\/\/www.vnunet.com\/vnunet\/news\/2154310\/spyware-fraudster-fined-48]Vnunet[\/url]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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