Surfing the Internet has its risks but now cyber criminals are trying to get your cash with something called "scareware." It starts with a pop-up warning about a virus detected on your computer.
"People will click on it and then they actually may get infected or they'll click on it and spend $29, or for some fake av thinking that it's really not," said Brent Remai.
Remai is with the computer security firm McAfee and says scareware attacks are a growing problem. The bogus warning can look legit one click and the damage can be spread to your computer. You can even get hit on search engine results and on sites like YouTube and Twitter.
Hackers use the scareware tactics to get you to pay for fake protection.
"Cyber criminals will make upwards of a few hundred thousand in even a week or two, so it's a pretty big business and that's why it's so pervasive," he said.
Bottom line: If you're already getting these fake warnings, don't click on them. Don't give them you're credit card update or buy the real deal from a trusted source.
"We never shoot a pop up saying you have viruses on your machine, click here to do a scan, we just don't do that," he continued.
Once infected, security experts say running a real virus scan will take care of those scary pop-ups. Remember don't click on them. They may lead to more viruses or malware.
