A pop-up on your computer screen warning about technical problems could be a trap! The CBI has busted a racket, booking six private firms that were allegedly installing a malware on people's computers in the name of providing anti-virus to protect them from bogus security issues flagged through pop-up messages. The central agency has conducted searches at the premises of these accused companies — New Delhi-based Softwill Infotech Private Limited and Saburi TLC Worldwide Services Private Limited, Jaipur-based Innovana Thinklabs Limited and Systweak Software Private Limited, Noida-based Benovellient Technologies Private Limited and Noida and Gurugram-based Saburi Global Services Private Limited.
The agency has carried out searches at the premises of the companies at 10 locations in Jaipur, Delhi, Noida, Gurugram, Faridabad and Mainpuri. The companies allegedly sent pop-up messages on personal computers of users, giving bogus warnings about purported security issues and presence of malware in the Microsoft Windows System, officials said.
The pop-up messages carried the phone number of a call centre, where the employees of the companies allegedly advised the victims to install certain anti-malwares or anti-virus, which are essentially PUPs (Potentially Unwanted Programs), they said. "The victims are allegedly given the option to activate the PUPs by paying a fee online or by calling a support number advertised in the interface of the programme. The victims are fraudulently influenced in this manner and allegedly fall in their trap to maintain their systems properly," CBI Spokesperson RK Gaur said.
The customer care allegedly posed as the support system call centre and asked people to make payments through an online link to resolve the non-existent problems, the officials said.
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