Rogue AV claims to help environment

by Steve Ragan - Sep 3 2009, 19:50

Apparently there is a new scam aimed at those who want to save planet earth. A Rogue anti-Virus, Green AV, is just like all the other scamming software online, but this one promises you for every license purchased, money is sent to save forests in Amazonia.

Word for word, the promise on the Green AV site says, “Environment care program. $2 from every sale we make will be sent on saving green forests in Amazonia.” Just below that promise is the cost to register Green AV, which is $99.99 USD. Websense, who alerted us to this clean earth scam, has some screenshots on their site. You can view them here.

Green AV downloads and installs like any other Rogue anti-Virus software. Once installed, it will gladly remove all of the infections it discovers if you register it. Oddly, while not tested on Green AV, some of the Rogue anti-Virus applications will report the infections removed. They’ll stop pestering you, for a while. Then the process will repeat, and there are often attempts to renew your now expired registration.

At this point, detection and removal of the Rogue anti-Virus would be moot. The criminals have already captured your personal, as well as credit card, information. Moreover, most Rogue anti-Virus applications pay the criminals two ways. They are paid as it is installed on your system, via various affiliate programs, and if you register the fake software, they will collect your information, likely charge the card, and sell the details off as a sort of bonus.

Most Rogue anti-virus applications are flagged by the established and legitimate security vendors. However, in lab testing performed by The Tech Herald, every vendor has problems with some of the fake AV software in the past.

Our suggestion is to use Malwarebytes Anti-Malware for Rogue anti-Virus removal. In lab tests where a security vendor failed to stop a Rogue anti-Virus application from installing, MBAM removed it in most cases.

However, as good as Malwarebytes Anti-Malware is at removing these annoying programs, they cannot replace smart logic. Use caution when you are directed to an unknown or unexpected website that suddenly throws warnings left and right about infections. Close the browser, and do not download anything offered.

You can download Malwarebytes Anti-Malware here.

For the record, Green AV is not associated in anyway with Project Green AV (Audio and Video). If you are interested in learning more about Project Green AV, head here.

 

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