The painful cost of search fraud
Friday, September 25, 2009
Search hijacking scams are flourishing online, and with good cause: Experts say that the criminals involved can make up to $10,000 a day while the search terms are active. But the cost to the victims of this kind of fraud can be even higher.
Criminals hide illegitimate search terms on legitimate pages through deceptive means, which can result in automated sanctions by search engines, which read the random search terms as attempts to game the system. The result is that the legitimate page loses page rank through no fault of its own.
The hijacked searches redirect unsuspecting users to sites hawking fake anti-virus software, often complete with panic-inducing pop-ups that warn users that they are already infected. Though only a small percentage of visitors to such pages are convinced to buy the phony products, the sheer number of redirections - roughly 1.8 million over the course of about two weeks, according to internet security company Finjian - is enough to ensure windfall profits for both the search hijackers and the fake software pushers.
Experts say that the dangers of search hijacking fraud should spur internet users to tighten their own online security, by keeping up to date with a reputable anti-virus program.
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