In June 2010 the Internet security company Symantec heard about a company, Online PC Doctors, using telemarketing tactics to convince users their computers are infected.
When a Symantec security researcher contacted this company and claimed to be having problems with their computer. The representative had them open the computers Event Viewer and then claimed that the warnings there were signs of an infection (they weren’t).
The company rep proceeded to connect to the users computer remotely, run Checkdisk and Diskcleanup and then claim the computer was loaded with malicious files. They then proceeded to offer (hard sell) the researcher an immediate cleanup and a annual maintenance fee of $166 for one year or $322 for a two-year subscription.
When the security researcher agreed to the $166 fee, she was required to send the company an e-mail with name, address, phone number, full credit card details as well as faxing a copy of her drivers license. Explicit permission to use the credit card was also required. All information provided was fake, except for the credit card.
The security researcher watched everything the representative did on the computer. In fact no cleanup service was provided. It was all a scam. Fake malware removal – by phone!
More on fake malware:
http://techteachtoo.com/internet-security/fake-antivirus/
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