Enola, Pa. - We've heard from a rash of consumers and businesses that were hit by the latest wave of computer viruses. They are an attempt to steal your credit card number.

Joshua Nelson of Enola calls his business My Computer Doctor.  He's been busy cleaning up a new batch of computer viruses that are very sneaky indeed. It all starts with a pop-up message on your computer screen.

"The pop-up looks like an anti-virus application," said Nelson. "It says you're infected with an X amount of viruses and to click to disinfect."

But if you click on the button to seemingly clean up a computer virus, you actually unleash a virus. It slows down your computer. The scheme eventually asks for your credit card number and illegal charges are then made on your card.

One of the bogus pop-ups has a huge red bar at the top that says "virus warning." Another is labeled "Personal Anti-Virus" and one is labeled "Green AV." He said the only safe way to close the pop-ups is to click on the "x" in the upper right corner.

Nelson said free downloads from three genuine anti-virus companies can protect against the virus scams. Go to www.avg.com for AVG anti-virus, www.safernetworking.org for software called Spybot, or www.ccleaner.com for free anti-virus software called CCleaner.

 

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