think of the uninitiated (Score 2, Insightful)

What really scares me about this kind of stuff is that my parents, friends who know little about the net, etc.. are all very vulnerable to this sort of scam. The same may be true of the non-tech types that you know. Those of us reading here won't be suckered, but the scammers only need to succeed against the gullible. For example, I have my folks running a legit copy of winxp home (linux just ain't gonna happen in their case, trust me) and they even get nervous when the Windows Update stuff comes up, since I told them to reject anything that offers to install itself. I told them I'd take care of it next time I visited - roughly once a month I travel back home and we sit down and go through websites so they can get plugins they actually need, and I add names to the list that currently includes Gator, BB, etc of "avoid at all costs". Then I look at the Windows Updates and make sure it isn't that one unsafe one, and install them. My folks are chomping at the bit to explore their computer more and become even more familiar with the net... and they're doing great, especially for people whose VCR used to blink "12:00" after every power outage until my next visit... but the paranoia is preventing them from really embracing the technology. This affects all of us, because the non-tech-savvy around the world have to embrace the technology to some extent in order for meaningful development of new research to take place, for it to be economically feasible at all. As a law student and hopeful future prosecutor, I'll always help any way I can to nail the scam artists, and I'm glad many of you feel the same way.