scareware

One way cybercriminals fool consumers is through scareware, in which pop-ups can be used to show a message to users that their PC has been infected by a virus and it must be cleaned immediately by using their scanning tool - which they must pay for. In reality, the user did not have malware at all; this identity theft tactic is only meant to get access to their credit card.

NetLingo Classification: Online Jargon

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