How to report a computer crime: Fake anti-virus

by Bob Burls  @ Naked Security on December 7, 2012  

Do you know how to report a computer crime? Or even who you would report it to?

So far, we have looked at phishing and SQL injection attacks, trolling, unauthorised email account access and malware in our series of articles on how to report a computer crime. In this article, we'll look at fake anti-virus.

We'll look at what offences are committed in different countries when a crime like this happens, how you should report the crime,
and what evidence you can preserve that might help in the subsequent investigation.

Take this scenario: 

Peter is browsing the internet at home using his PC and lands on an adult content web portal. He sees a hyperlink offering to download an X-rated movie. Peter downloads the file.

We all love to shop online these days. Sometimes online deals are too good to be true. How to tell if the computer you just bought has a genuine copy of windows or not:
Almost all computers come with a windows license sticker somewhere on the outside of the case. This sticker contains all the information about the copy of windows; which version of windows and a 20 digit product key. It is possible to not have a sticker but more often than not, if it does not have a sticker it is not valid. Certain computers can save the product key on the BIOS, usually only major retailers like Dell and HP use this, NOT custom builds.\

The most obvious way to tell is there will be a icon on the bottom right logo on the screen asking to activate windows.

The easiest way to to check is performing Windows genuine validation via Settings. Just go to the Start menu, click Settings, then click Update & security. Then, navigate to the Activation section to see if the OS is activated. If yes, and it shows "Windows is activated with a digital license ", your Windows 10 is genuine.