Scammers Are Using a Fake Version of AdwCleaner to Trick People

[Starbuck]

The latest trend in the awful Windows ecosystem is pretty ridiculous — scammers have a fake version of the reputable AdwCleaner tool, which is a real tool for Windows experts. And this one pretends your computer is infected and tries to make you pay them to remove it.

 

AdwCleaner is indeed a real freeware tool, with a good reputation for removing spyware and adware. It’s not as well known as MalwareBytes because it’s not all that user friendly, since it is meant for Windows experts rather than regular users. And the scammers have tried to mimic the interface, stealing the logo, and even ripping out the icon (badly) for their fake version.

 

Fake AdwCleaner is Being Distributed Through Adware Infections

 

The ironic thing is that this is getting on people’s PCs that are already infected with adware or spyware of some type, which then keep popping up windows to a page that looks like this one… which tells you that adware is detected. Which is surprisingly accurate, although the fake app isn’t going to remove that adware.

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v708/starbuck50/650x273ximg_54dc156788bfd.png.pagespeed.ic.By1-ds_90x_zpsjom6q77z.png

 

Once you click through that dialog, it’ll give you a scary message like this, telling you to download AdwCleaner. Since you’ve probably heard your geeky friends talking about AdwCleaner, a normal user might be tempted to download it.

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v708/starbuck50/650x270ximg_54dc15cedf417.png.pagespeed.ic.q9pycNN1oN_zpsoyth0ji2.png

 

If you make the mistake of downloading and running this fake AdwCleaner, you’ll be quickly presented with a window that looks an awful lot like the real thing.

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v708/starbuck50/650x291ximg_54dc19acd3d42.jpg.pagespeed.ic.iK_HMrSRxV_zpsr15556mj.jpg

 

Once the fake one finishes scanning, it’ll present you with a dialog saying your PC is completely infected with spyware and browser hijackers, and then it’ll offer to remove it, as long as you pay $59.99 to them through Paypal. And of course that fire sale ends tomorrow.

 

It’s important to note here that the real AdwCleaner is completely free. You can download it from AdwCleaner

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v708/starbuck50/650x391ximg_54dc1a82cdda6.jpg.pagespeed.ic.XHjB_5RkXB_zpsbal8cyyj.jpg

 

 

Source:

http://www.howtogeek.com/209654/scammers-are-using-a-fake-version-of-adwcleaner-to-trick-people/

[KenB]

Thanks for posting this Pete - hopefully word will get around :)

[Starbuck]

The website has been reported to Google as a Web Forgery .... if they add this to the database it should protect users of Google Chrome and Firefox.

[Ray1000]

Thanks for keeping us informed about these things Pete, I'm sure everyone appreciates it.

 

Ray

[Starbuck]

This scareware is fairly easy to remove.

Simply terminate the 6AdwCleaner.exe process in Task Manager to end the program.

Once the program is terminated, delete the HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\AdwCleaner Registry key via Msconfig or Autoruns and then delete the C:\Users\\AppData\Local\6AdwCleaner.exe file.

If you would prefer to use a program to remove this infection, Emsisoft Anti-Malware and Malwarebytes both detect this scareware already.

 

AdwCleaner should only be downloaded from ToolsLib.net and BleepingComputer.com.

If you download it from any other location then you run the risk of becoming infected with adware or possibly something worse.

[Starbuck]

The legit AdwCleaner can now detect and remove the scam version.