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You could load a rogue anti-virus program on your computer.
"The bad guys will actually write a program that looks like it's going to help you with viruses," says Bob Sullivan, author of the book Stop Getting Ripped Off. "You download it and install it and you've just volunteered to be a criminal on behalf of the hacker because now they have control of your computer."
Sullivan says once that rogue software is in your computer, the cyber thieves may try to extort money.
"They'll try to charge you $10, $20, $30 to remove the software that they just put on your computer. The scam is widespread, it's growing quickly, it's harder and harder for the average consumer to tell what's real antivirus software and what's rogue antivirus software."
Play it safe and skip the free scans. Most are scams.
Buy your anti-virus software from a reputable retailer, in a shrink wrapped box or downloaded from a trusted site.
There are some good free anti-virus programs. Don't search for them -- go to download.com or pcworld.com so you get the real deal. If you have a PC, you can get Microsoft Security Essentials from Microsoft. It's free and does a good job.
Source: http://www.kpic.com/news/consumertips/82704457.html
