You have a virus click here to scan now!!!! - Pop-ups pop-unders, sliding windows, pull ups, pull downs and the like that "warn" a reader to take action now. When the reader click the button they will find a newly installed malware that creates more popus, pop unders, changes home page, starts 10 other malware infestations and generally causes a user to burn their harddrive with a blow torch while standing in a puddle of gasoline.
Alright, a blow torch might be a little extreme. I can speak from personal experience on this so I do understand the frustration. I spent so much time warning my wife about computer virus infections she became paranoid. To add to it, I would get irritated with her every time she asked me how to change a font or set a margin width. This all added up to one thing, she wanted to fix that virus before I found out. So she clicked on "Click here to clean your PC". I spent the next week tracking down every last remnant of the infection and restoring from backup.
My story illustrates just how this scam can lure vicitms into an action. In this case it was a trojan that loaded a ton of virus, adware and spyware code. The desire to do the right thing often leads to the path of the dark side. ( You did see "star wars" didn't you? Or "lord of the rings") If we can be made to think that what we are doing is a good thing we will do just about anything. Helping a nigerian prince, donate to a fake charity, etc.
The other aspect to the scam is the fear factor. "You are infected. You must clean your pc to protect your personal files". This is meant to scare the victim into taking action. This can also serve to create a sense of shame.
So go get a real virus scanner. Scan often and do the safe thing not the "right" thing.
More information here http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20091205174544AAtLFvR
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