[00:00.00]From VOA Learning English, [00:01.92]this is the TECHNOLOGY REPORT in Special English. [00:07.39]A court in the United States [00:10.00]has announced a judgment of more than [00:12.56]one hundred sixty million dollars [00:14.87]against defendants in a "scareware" operation. [00:19.34]The case named Kristy Ross, [00:22.90]both individually and as an officer [00:26.48]of Innovative Marketing, Inc. [00:29.23]Two founders of the company, [00:31.73]Sam Jain and Daniel Sundin, [00:34.14]were found to be jointly liable for the fine. [00:38.85]The three are the last of eight defendants [00:41.90]named in a case brought [00:43.64]by the Federal Trade Commission in two thousand eight. [00:47.70]The FTC accused them of using dishonest methods [00:52.05]to trick more than one million individuals [00:54.86]into buying computer security software programs. [00:59.57]This practice is known as "scareware." [01:03.47]Robert Siciliano is a security expert with McAfee, [01:09.10]the American computer security company. [01:12.30]We spoke to him by Skype. [01:14.50]ROBERT SICILIANO: "Scareware is a form of computer virus [01:18.67]that ends up on your PC and essentially tries [01:23.38]to scare you into coughing up your credit card number [01:28.09]to buy software that is supposed to fix your computer." [01:32.90]Robert Siciliano says "scareware" [01:36.40]often appears as a pop-up message on a computer. [01:39.82]ROBERT SICILIANO: "It'll show a screen saying [01:42.83]there is some bad virus on your PC. [01:45.80]It shows up like the night in shining armor [01:51.15]to protect you from this new virus [01:54.31]that you're computer just got." [01:56.01]He also says there are a number of things [01:58.97]that make the message appear believable. [02:02.12]ROBERT SICILIANO: "What makes the scam look credible [02:04.34]is that it often grabs a screen shot of [02:08.30]what your computer looks like, [02:11.55]windows that mimic the characteristics of your PC. [02:16.66]And that brings some familiarity to you [02:20.89]which enhances the quality of the scam." [02:24.84]In some cases, "scareware" operators [02:28.27]misrepresent themselves as real companies, [02:31.17]like Dell, Microsoft, even McAfee. [02:35.17]There is an order form, a place [02:37.78]to add credit card information, and yes -- a download. [02:42.29]You may even receive a confirmation email [02:46.04]thanking you for your purchase. [02:48.36]But Mr. Siciliano says, in reality, [02:52.36]there was nothing to fix in the first place. [02:55.92]What you get for your money is often a junk software program. [03:00.73]Even more often, he says, it is something more harmful. [03:05.74]ROBERT SICILIANO: "You now have a virus [03:07.49]and anything you do beyond that -- any links [03:11.00]that you click, any personal information that you enter [03:13.76]-- you're essentially going deeper down the rabbit hole, [03:16.92]making the problem much worse." [03:19.87]The judgment last week bars the defendants [03:23.33]from selling computer security software [03:26.08]and any other software that interferes with computer use. [03:30.74]It also bars them from any form of misleading marketing. [03:35.45]Last week, the FTC announced action [03:39.72]against six other companies suspected of tricking people [03:44.79]to buy unneeded anti-virus software. [03:48.09]Many of the companies are said to be based in India. [03:52.00]And that's the VOA Special English Technology Report. [03:57.57]I'm June Simms.

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