What is Scareware
Scareware scams are a particularly convincing type of tech support scam and use aggressive web pages to convince victims into thinking their system is infected with malware, pressuring people to call fake tech support number where scammers attempt to gain access to their device.
Scareware can pop up out of nowhere, particularly through deceptive online advertisements. For example, you might by accident click on a misleading banner or button, which could redirect you to a scareware site.
Full screen mode is often a feature used by Scareware sites, just like popular video sites and most users are not sure what to do next, as scareware sites try to camouflage the ESC option that will exit full-screen mode.
Scareware uses audio and keyboard mouse tricks to incite panic, quite often they will play a warning from a computer-generated voice, leading victims to believe their computer has an identity theft virus and urging users to call support immediately.
How Scareware Blocker will Help
If you land on a scareware scam website in Microsoft Edge browser, you will be protected by Defender SmartScreen, which provides real-time checks on new and unfamiliar sites where abuse is more likely to hide.
When scareware blocker suspects a page is a scam, Microsoft Edge will put you back in control by exiting full screen mode, stopping aggressive audio playback, warning you, and showing a thumbnail of the page, that you were just viewing like this example below:
You can now simply click on Close page to get rid of the scareware scam.
Users can share a screenshot of the scam and other diagnostics with Microsoft, helping the Defender SmartScreen service detect scareware outbreaks across multiple machines. If they don’t choose to report, the scareware blocker model will discard the page.
To reduce false alarms, users can also report when scareware blocker makes a mistake and blocks a legitimate page.
How to Enable Scareware Blocker
While Microsoft understand that the scareware blocker may not catch every scam, especially as scammers tactics evolve, they are committed to improving defences and your security.
Scareware blocker is currently rolling out now as a preview for all Microsoft Edge users on Windows computers, use this link to enable Microsoft Edge Scareware Blocker.
