Somehow we got a virus in our home computer. We have an antivirus program installed on the computer, however, apparently a counterfeit snuck into it when I was online. The popup said a virus had been detected and showed several viruses in my computer. It asked if I wanted to remove them and I checked the ‘Fix’ button. Big mistake! When I told the counterfeit antivirus program to ‘Fix’ the problem, I downloaded the real virus.

The moral of the story is clear to me: Beware of counterfeits. Because I was trusting the real thing to do its job, I innocently was fooled into trusting the counterfeit by mistake. It was like the proverbial worm on the hook. I bit and got bit.

What’s your experience with deception and counterfeits?

Tags: counterfeit, deception