Scareware and Tech Support Scams
Warn❚nᤜ҇ү൦Ur ᰆPεraŢሴg systÊm hȦऽ ν𑀡ruގ dOwח𐎂ꉻad P𐎓 ΌPҭ⇃mizѐr nOW
I really hope you didn’t think that was a real warning! It was a tech support scam that used weird characters and a fake alert to trick you into downloading a program. Tech support scams are websites or applications that tell you that there is something wrong with your computer and to call a listed (fake) phone number. The applications usually change the Windows Registry so the computer automatically boots into the tech support scam screen, and the browser versions usually make it hard to close the browser. Here’s a good webpage about tech support scams, and another one about scareware.
Scareware is basically a type of program that tells you that you have computer problems and you need to buy the program to fix those problems. These programs are usually disguised as antiviruses or performance optimizers. I even made one in Python!
My Scareware Program
# Made by Luke Villalobos in Python
import os, random, time, subprocess, pyautogui, datetime, uuid
pyautogui.FAILSAFE = False
def randomchoice(list):
global random
if random is None:
import random
while True:
try:
item = random.choice(list)
return item
except:
continue
print("Byte Size AV now starting.")
virus_names = ["Adware.Win64.Look@me", "Win.Virus.Sality-6791420-0",
"BScope.Trojan.Bitrep", "Win32:Malware-gen", "Win32:Rustock-AY", "Trojan.Win32.Downloader.sa",
"Trojan.Malware.300983.susgen", "Trojan.Win32.Inject1.DQHY", "Ransom.Win64.Annabelle.vl!i",
"Suspicious.Win32.Save.a", "Trj/CI.A", "GrayWare[AdWare]/Win32.NavaShield", "W32.AIDetectMalware",
"BehavesLike.Win32.PUP.tc", "Adware/Bonzo", "Not-a-virus:AdWare.Win32.Bonzo.f",
"PUA:Win32/Presenoker", "Application.BadJoke.G", "Trojan-Spy.Win32.Batton.rk", "Trojan.ScriptKD",
"Trojan.Skeeyah", "Riskware.Win32.MalwareF.ivitmh", "BehavesLike.Win32.Dropper.dc", "Joke.Clippy"]
exts = [".exe", ".bat", ".com", ".jar", ".dll", ".sys", ".drv", ".bin", ".msc", ".lnk"]
vcount = 0
for currFolder, subfolder, file in os.walk("C:\\"):
dispWarn = random.randrange(1, 10001)
openNotepad = random.randrange(1, 10001)
moveMouse = random.randrange(1, 10001)
try:
notepadFile = str(currFolder) + random.choice(file)
except:
pass
if moveMouse == 16:
pyautogui.moveRel(random.randrange(-1024, 1025), random.randrange(-1024, 1025), duration=0.5)
if openNotepad == 8:
try:
theFile = random.choice(file)
thePath = currFolder + "\\" + theFile
os.system(f"type {thePath}")
time.sleep(0.5)
except:
time.sleep(0.5)
continue
if dispWarn == 4:
err = random.choice(virus_names)
print("Malware detected: " + err)
try:
malFile = random.choice(file)
print("at " + str(currFolder) + malFile + "\n")
time.sleep(0.5)
except:
malFile = uuid.uuid3(namespace = uuid.NAMESPACE_URL, name = "bytesizeinfo.com")
print("Error: The path is corrupted\n")
time.sleep(0.5)
continue
vcount += 1
print("=" * 10 + "STATUS REPORT" + "=" * 10)
print("You have " + str(vcount) + " viruses.")
print("Infection Level:")
print("_" * 20)
print("!" * vcount)
print("\"" * 20)
What it Does
Along with outputting “malware”, it also randomly moves the mouse and outputs the contents of random files. (Note: This is geared towards Windows users. If you’re on Linux, change os.walk("C://") to os.walk("/").)
