It’s not rocket science to figure out what’s the “right thing” to do on the Internet. Pirating movies or music….no. Making illegal transactions over the Internet, whether it is the selling of illegal narcotics, human trafficking or child exploitation…no.
There are forms of scareware that take advantage of our fears of breaking laws. Guilty or not, these pop-up messages may cause concern, as you may wonder what others in your household are viewing on the Internet or if you inadvertently went to a “bad” website or opened an infected attachment.
If you receive a pop-up message that looks like this,
it doesn’t mean that you did anything wrong, necessarily. Even if you were illegally downloading something, law enforcement would not send you a pop-up warning message. If they started giving warnings for a traffic offense, there might be far fewer tickets written. Law enforcement does not warn you in the majority of instances. If you do the crime, the punishment will match the crime.
If you open one of these ‘pop-ups,” it may contain an attachment with a virus or a website link containing malware. The tactics are numerous. Should you receive this, don’t take the bait. Scan your computer for viruses and rid yourself of them. After scanning your computer, if none are found, consult a computer specialist about this pop-up message so they can give their expert opinion on whether there is cause for concern. Scareware is nothing to take lightly!
