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Cyber Risks · Krebs on Security

Rogue Antivirus Victims Seldom Fight Back

Summary: Documents from a scareware operation show that of more than 2,000 victims charged $50 to $100 for fake anti-virus software, only 367 - fewer than 20 percent - contacted their bank or the scammers to reverse the charges. A second wave in early April showed only 163 of 1,678 victims, fewer than 10 percent, initiating chargebacks, and a Visa representative told Krebs the network was not seeing anywhere near the chargeback volume that prompted its program against the nutraceutical industry.

Why it matters: Scareware economics depend on silence: fewer than one in five victims dispute the charge, so the fraud stays profitable and largely invisible to the card networks and to law enforcement, which has little reason to investigate individual losses of $80 to $100.

Read the original at Krebs on Security ↗

Topics
Fraud & Scams
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