to download Registry Cleaner XP at a cost of $39.95. On December 2, 2008, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission ("FTC") filed a Complaint in federal court against Innovative Marketing, Inc., ByteHosting Internet Services, LLC, as well as individuals Sam Jain, Daniel Sundin, James Reno, Marc D’Souza, and Kristy Ross. The Complaint also listed Maurice D’Souza as a Relief Defendant, alleged that he held proceeds of wrongful conduct but not accusing him of violating any law. The FTC alleged that the other Defendants violated the FTC Act by deceptively marketing software, including WinFixer, WinAntivirus, DriveCleaner, ErrorSafe, and XP Antivirus. According to the complaint, the Defendants falsely represented that scans of a consumer's computer showed that it had been compromised or infected and then offered to sell software to fix the alleged problems. Prank software Another type of scareware involves software designed to literally scare the user through the use of unanticipated shocking images, sounds or video. An early program of this type is NightMare, a program distributed on the Fish Disks for the Amiga computer (Fish #448) in 1991. When NightMare executes, it lies dormant for an extended and random period of time, finally changing the entire screen of the computer to an image of a skull while playing a horrifying shriek on the audio channels. Anxiety-based scareware puts users in situations where there are no positive outcomes. For example, a small program can present a dialog box saying "Erase everything on hard drive?" with two buttons, both labeled "OK". Regardless of which button is chosen, nothing is destroyed. This tactic was used in an advertisement campaign by Sir-Tech in 1997 to advertise Virus: The Game. When the file is run, a full screen representation of the desktop appears. The software then begins simulating deletion of the Windows folder. When this process is complete, a message is slowly typed on screen saying "Thank God this is only a game." A screen with the purchase information appears on screen and then returns to the desktop. No damage is done to the computer during the advertisement. See also Ransomware Rogue security software Winwebsec Notes Further reading External links The Case of the Unusable System Yes, that PC cleanup app you saw on TV at 3 a.m. is a waste Types of malware False advertising Cybercrime Social engineering (computer security)