How to Recognize Fake Antivirus Software

There are many versions of fake antivirus circulating on the Internet today. While there are different variants, styles, and names, they all have a common feature set.

A professional-looking graphical user interface is one of the main features. This makes it look like a legitimate antivirus application. Once the fake antivirus gets into a user’s computer system, it launches the interface and pretends to start scanning the system. Once the “scan” is over, the fake antivirus generally tells the user that the system is riddled with malicious software.

Then, the fake antivirus wants payment in order to clean the computer of all that fake malware. You shouldn’t enter your credit card information. Once you do, all that data gets shipped off to Eastern Europe or Brazil, and you immediately become a candidate for identity theft. Even worse, some fake antivirus loads real malware, meaning you’ve just paid to have your computer infected. Some others log your keystrokes or try to steal other information from your system.

Computers are infected with fake antivirus through infected email attachments, links within emails, or social media links. These lead the users to malicious sites that automatically infect PCs and Macs via drive-by downloads.

The trick to avoiding fake AV infection is to know what’s already there on your system. You should already have genuine anti-virus software that you’ve personally bought and installed. Be familiar with your anti-virus software and know what it looks like when it prompts you for an update, if it isn’t done automatically. If an update or scan prompt doesn’t match your regular anti-virus software prompt, fake antivirus has most likely made its way onto your system.

Do not forget, you have already paid for the software on your computer. So, if you are being asked to pay for something, it is a fake antivirus.

If you do end up with fake antivirus on your system, be assured that you aren’t alone; this is a billion-dollar business for cybercriminals. First, scan your computer with your genuine anti-virus. If it’s blocked by the fake antivirus, reboot your computer in “safe” mode and then scan again. Besides, it is good to do an offline scan as well. This will require you to restart into the Windows Preinstallation Environment (WinPE) to run a scanning utility, such as Windows Defender Offline scan tool.