In case you needed yet another reminder that the internet is a dangerous place, MLB.com is in hot water this week after advertisements on its website were found linking to bogus antivirus software.
The ads in question were for luxury watches. After clicking on the advertisement, users were suddenly prompted with a virus warning. They were told that they only way to cure the infection was to download a Windows Secure Web Patch. After downloading that patch, users were then prompted to buy the full software for $99.99 or else their computers would continue to be infected.
The advertisement goes from luxury watches to bogus antivirus software in just a few steps. In some cases, visitors to MLB.com were even reporting being automatically redirected to the antivirus software download page. That is, they didn’t even have to click on the luxury watch ad in order to become infected.
Even worse, the advertisement is suspected to have been active for nearly a month. A PC security firm that has researched the virus claims that the ad has appeared on MLB.com regularly since May 25.

Why are fake antivirus scams so lucrative for criminals?

Antivirus scams like this are one of the fastest ways for criminals to make money online. Even the most web-savvy computer users tend to get caught up in scams like this. One minute, you’re looking at baseball statistics, and then the next minute your computer is locked up by a dangerous virus.
Making matters worse is the fact that many of these viruses ‘hijack’ your computer, preventing you from Googling how to fix the problem or even opening your own antivirus software. This makes it difficult to fix your PC in any sort of way.
With millions of people visiting MLB.com every month, having even a small percentage of them purchasing $99.99 antivirus software would be a lucrative deal for the criminals behind this scam.  There were also 22 other URLs suspected to be behind this scam.

Protecting your PC from scams like this

MLB.com isn’t the first website to come under attack from cyber criminals, and it won’t be the last. Last year, the website for the London Stock Exchange experienced a similar attack, and other big name websites are struggling to eliminate this so-called ‘badware’ from their advertising networks.
To protect your PC, it’s important to download the right computer protection software. Download PC Cleaner Pro by clicking here. That will scan your computer for various malware infections and speed it up in a number of different ways.
We all know the internet is a dangerous place. You can make it that much safer by purchasing the right PC software today.