It seems that the bad guys are at it again, and this time they are using the holiday shopping season to try and trick people into infecting their pc’s.  Panda Labs released a post on their Panda Labs site (LINK:http://pandalabs.pandasecurity.com/archive/Black_2800_hat_2900_-Friday.aspx (http://pandalabs NULL.pandasecurity NULL.com/archive/Black_2800_hat_2900_-Friday NULL.aspx)) concerning the fact that if you go online and run a search that many of the links showing on search engines  have been compromised and the results actually lead to fake sites that are just there to infect your pc.

From the Panda Labs post here is an example they show with results that will do nothing but infect your pc.

Google Search:

 

(http://www NULL.flickr NULL.com/photos/lithium-/4120742406/sizes/o/)

If you happen to access one of these fake sites you will get infected with an old favorite, the fake antivirus notices that wont go away until you give the bad guys your credit card information (One of the many others names you may have heard of this is AntiVirus2009 LINK:http://techgeekandmore.com/2009/10/19/rogueware-with-new-ranson-technology/ (http://techgeekandmore NULL.com/2009/10/19/rogueware-with-new-ranson-technology/)), since they will claim your infected until you but their product. At the moment you do, in a miracle your pc is clean, but a good chance that so would your bank account or credit card since you would have handed the bad guys your information.

In case if you do click on a bad link, you will see the screen just like it shows in the example below (or a slight variation). What you will need to do is follow the information from the recent post “What to do if you get a virus or malware” (LINK: http://techgeekandmore.com/2009/11/23/how-to-what-to-do-if-you-get-a-virus-or-malware-via-a-pop-up-message/ (http://techgeekandmore NULL.com/2009/11/23/how-to-what-to-do-if-you-get-a-virus-or-malware-via-a-pop-up-message/)) to attempt to clean your pc.

Fake Antivirus Page:

(http://www NULL.flickr NULL.com/photos/lithium-/4120742422/sizes/o/)

As always take precautions and use common sense when going to links including those that come up on search engine sites (Like Google, Bing, Yahoo).  If your trying to get to the site of a major site, but the link showing says pleaseclickme.cm/SoIcanmesswithyou (This is just an example), then you may really want to think about it before clicking on the link.

**Images for this post are from the Panda Labs Post.  Presented for the benefit of TGM readers.