ESET warns against Windows Movie Maker scam

Source: ESET. The scam site encourages users to buy the software.

Scammers have been successful at distributing a modified version of Windows Movie Maker that aims to collect money from unaware users, security firm ESET has warned. The spread of the scam, which is not new, has been boosted by search engine optimisation of the scammers' website, as well as from continuing demand for Windows Movie Maker. Microsoft’s free video editing software was discontinued in January 2017.

When users install the software, they receive what appears to be a functioning Windows Movie Maker. However, unlike the official and free Windows Movie Maker by Microsoft, this version claims to be a trial version that needs to be upgraded to a full version in order to offer all features.

The user is repeatedly prompted to purchase the full version, first when the software is launched and later when the user tries to save a new document. In the latter case, the prompt prevents the user from continuing, making it appear as if the ability to save a document is a paid feature. The price requested for the fake upgrade is set to US$29.95 in what is presented as a 25% discount on the payment website used by the scammers.

Paying for the software may result in nothing happening, or malware to be downloaded.

At the time of writing, the website spreading the modified software, windows-movie-maker.org, is one of the top results returned when searching for “Movie Maker” and “Windows Movie Maker” on Google. On the Google Chrome browser, the website ranks as No. 1 in the majority of countries with the highest numbers of Internet users. On Bing, the search engine with the second largest global market share, the website is also placed on the first page of results.

As a consequence of the website’s high search engine ranking, the scammers have reached a global audience with the modified Windows Movie Maker emerging among the most prevalent threats in ESET’s telemetry in the past few days. On November 5, 2017, Win32/Hoax.MovieMaker was the third most detected threat worldwide. As of November 6, ESET's telemetry has recorded many detections in the Philippines among other countries. 

ESET security products detect the scam as Win32/Hoax.MovieMaker and block the website distributing it. The company has notified both Google and Microsoft about the fraudulent nature of the high-ranking website.

ESET advises those who have already installed the Movie Maker offered on windows-movie-maker.org to uninstall it and run a scan using a reputable antimalware solution. The company also pointed out that the official replacement for the discontinued software is Windows Story Remix.
"Don’t pay for software that is or was officially offered for free. Information on software pricing should be available online," the company said in a statement.

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Watch the video on Story Remix