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Windows Movie Maker, Microsoft’s video editing program was discontinued in January this year. But not many are aware of it.
A malware masquerading as Windows Movie Maker – with a similar logo – preys on unsuspecting users searching for the program.
Gurubaran, a researcher at online security news platform GB Hacker says, the fake program is from windows-movie-maker.org. Once the unsuspecting user downloads the file, he is prompted to buy an ‘upgrade’ for a steep $29.95, according to the company’s blog on Friday.
The scam works by manipulating common keywords by which the fake website surfaces as the top result in Google. A test conducted by GB Hacker’s researcher on Alexa revealed the site to be among the top 15 “most visited websites in the world.”
However, there is no information regarding the number of people who may have fallen prey to the scam, according to Gurubaran. As a precautionary measure to ensure the authenticity of websites, the security research analyst urges users to make use of online page scanners such as Web inspector, Sucuri among others.
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