The Central Bureau of Investigation has booked six private companies which allegedly transmitted pop-ups to personal computers with bogus warnings about serious technical issues, prompting users to install unwanted programmes and pay online for resolving the fictitious problems.
On Thursday, the agency conducted searches against the companies and associated persons at 10 locations in Delhi, Noida, Mainpuri (Uttar Pradesh), Gurugram, Faridabad and Jaipur.
The CBI identified the companies as Softwill Infotech Private Limited, InnovanaThinklabs Limited, Benovellient Technologies Private Limited, Systweak Software Private Limited, Saburi TLC Worldwide Services and Saburi Global Services
The accused companies were targeting the Microsoft Windows systems through the fake messages about malware infection and other technical glitches. “The employees of these companies allegedly advised the victims to install certain anti-malwares or anti-virus, which are essentially PUPs [Potentially Unwanted Programs],” said a CBI spokesperson.
As part of the modus operandi, victims are allegedly given the option of activating PUPs by paying the fee online or by calling a customer support number advertised in the interface of the programme.
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