Scammers Create Fake Parking Tickets Containing Illicit Trojan

Fake Parking Violations Contain Link to Download Illicit Trojan Malware in the ever-increasing world of scams and scammers.

What will they think of next? In the latest creative offering from the world of malware, spyware and viruses we have fake parking tickets that contain malicious URL’s leading to trojan horses and all sorts of malware.

Certain folks in Grand Forks, North Dakota were shocked and probably relieved when they  discovered that the parking ticket they found on their windshield was not real. But since we live in an unfair world, some still downloaded malware to their computers in the form of a trojan horse.

The fake parking violations began life as simple flyers that were attached to car windshields. The flyers contained an illicit URL which led the curious to a download for a photo search toolbar. Upon downloading the toolbar you were infected with a trojan. There is no word yet on what the trojan does but experts believe it is used in the ever-growing ranks of botnet armies.

The new “infected parking tickets” ask users to visit a different URL to view a photo of their infraction (pretty clever). The link asks users to download a toolbar to view the photo and once installed, the toolbar alerts users to a fake virus on their system. Adding more complexity to their scheme, the malware finally asks users to download a fake anti-virus software.

Security experts are getting worried because of the increasing rate at which new malicious acts tend to spread these days. The combination of both virtual and physical methods used to lure users to download and install malicious applications is getting more elaborate.

Many recall the Antivirus 2009 malware fiasco which even prompted Microsoft to take action and provide a patch for their Windows customers. The rogue, fake anti-virus software was reported in over 500,000 PC’s and was an absolute pain to remove and deal with! I remember that well.

Computer users should always be cautious and think twice before downloading any application. A lot of apps are good clones of well-known, trusted software. Mixed physical and virtual attacks are growing and social networking hacks are increasing as well.

Even Mac OS X users have been victim to recent viruses in the iWork ‘09 and Photoshop CS4 applications. Click here for our post on that as well as a tool if you happen to be infected.

In the meantime, send parking enforcement a check or better yet, contest your parking ticket and say that you were ticketed incorrectly!

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