Home : Blogs : Connie Tebyani, Platinum Home Staging Los Angeles to Santa Barbara : Connie Tebyani's Blog - Platinum Home Staging, Inc. Staging and Designing for Los Angeles and Ventura Counties (805) 553-9952

DON'T do the "free scan" scam for a virus!!!

MANY of us use Google or Yahoo notifications to scan the Internet for specific topics or keywords. Mine are pretty basic: Home Staging, Staging Homes, Connie Tebyani, Platinum Home Staging, etc

IF YOU RECEIVED A GOOGLE ALERT OVER THE WEEKEND FOR HOME STAGING, AND IF/WHEN YOU TRIED TO OPEN THE WEBSITE LINK YOU MAY HAVE GOTTEN A POP-UP WINDOW THAT READ SOMETHING TO THE EFFECT OF:

"YOUR COMPUTER HAS COME IN CONTACT WITH A VIRUS WHICH MY BE HARMFUL OR EFFECT YOUR COMPUTER. WE WILL PERFORM A FREE SCAN NOW"

DON'T DO IT!!!!

There are hackers out of Europe that use popular keywords to get their ranking right to the front of Google search. What happens is that when you click this "free scan", this is actually when they are PLANTING THE VIRUS! In a few weeks from now, your computer WILL begin to have problems, and you WILL have to clean the virus. At which point a very timely new pop-up will say, "You have bee effected, to clean you computer of this virus, please pay $69.99...." or whatever their price may be.

DON'T do the free scan - it's a SCAM

If you have any firewalls, Norton, McCafee or any other virus protection you should have been notified of the "virus" before clicking on any internet website link. I just so hapened to be listening to Leo Laporte (the Tech Guy) last Sunday when he talked about this very issue, and I received it twice this weekend! Be safe!

***************************************************************************************

Platinum Home Staging, Inc.

Posted by Connie Tebyani, Platinum Home Staging Los Angeles to Santa Barbara on 09/21/2009 09:47 AM

Comments (11)

home staging, virus scam

Post is included in group: Stage It Forward...
Post is included in group: Staging Successes
Post is included in group: Staging "Before" & "After" Pictures
Post is included in group: Stager's Coffee Clutch
Post is included in group: Real Estate Staging Association

11 Comments on DON'T do the "free scan" scam for a virus!!!

SEP

Good advice Connie. Hackers stay awake at night developing new and creative ways to trick unsuspecting computer users.

Thanks for the headsup - I saw something similar this weekend, hesitated for just a moment, then deleted.

Connie -- thanks for the warning! I haven't seen this one yet but will use my "delete" button if I do! P.S. What kind of karma are those guys building up for themselves, anyway?

Thanks for letting us know, Connie. I haven't seen that alert yet. However, I'll be on the look out.

Kathy

Great info Connie-I will be on the lookout for this and will pass this info onto my staging networking group.

Aloha Connie,

Thanks for the heads up as I use several google alerts. If only these nere-do-wells would spend half the time doing something to help instead of hurt others.

Peace,

Yes, they do, John. It was timely that I just happened to hear about it on the radio lst weekend and for it hit my Google alerts so quickly.

Good thing you did, Margarete. I clicked on the 1st link on my iPhone and when the pop-up came up (instead of an actual website) I had to shut it off and reboot my PHONE! ack!

Maureen, Kathy & Cathy ~ The first Google alert came up as "Barbara Staging" and the "info" said something to the effect of "Barbara Shwartz, Platinum Home Staging...have no idea".... so of COURSE I wanted to know what the heck was being said about my company!!! As soon as I clicked on the alert, the pop-up came up and I knew what it was. The second "alert" came a couple hours later.

Aloha, Kimo ~ I get Google alerts constantly as well. It is said that through this scam, these hackers in Europe are making approx. $10 MILLION per month. Too bad they aren't at least sending half of that to the hungry in Africa.

Thanks for warning us, Connie. I tend to be a trusting soul, so it's good for me to hear reminders that I have to be careful out there.

Connie- thanks for the reminder. They keep trying and it's too easy to be focused on what we're doing and forget to have our guard up. I'm with Kimo; if only they would spend their time and money towards productive endeavors.

SEP

Thanks Connie! I have not come across it yet, but appreciate the heads up.

SEP

Thanks for the heads up, Connie. I am using Google Alerts so will watch out for it.

Leave a response…

Name:

Email:
(optional)

Comment:

What does the graphic say?