I installed "antivirus." It was the virus.

A full-screen pop-up in the browser said my PC was infected and offered a free antivirus download to clean it.

I was tired after work; the red CRITICAL banner made waiting feel dangerous.

The installer wore a professional shield logo, turned off Windows Defender “for compatibility,” then showed endless fake scan results while upselling a paid clean for about two hundred dollars.

Behind that UI it was logging keystrokes.

Fake antivirus—scareware—uses fear to get admin rights, then steals passwords or plants ransomware.

Real security tools later flagged the program as a trojan; I ended up reimaging the machine after fraud alerts hit my bank.

While it installed I told myself I was fixing the problem in one click instead of reading a boring support article.

Malwarebytes named the exact binary that matched the pop-up’s brand; that was when I accepted I had invited the threat onto the disk myself.

I lost a weekend to recovery and spent months changing passwords, worried the keylogger had grabbed more than the bank caught.

I only install security software from vendor sites I type myself—never from ads, pop-ups, or panic pages.

• Close fake browser lock screens with Task Manager / force quit, then scan with a trusted tool.
• Report scareware URLs to safe-browsing programmes where you can.

For more help, see our Report a scam page and Spot and avoid scams guide.