'CRITICAL_PROCESS_DIED' Pop-Ups
Online schemes have existed since the dawn of the Internet. Among the countless tricks used by online conmen are fake technical support tactics. Often, these tactics would involve a bogus website that has been designed to display fraudulent alerts as soon as a user visits them. These alerts tend to claim that the user’s system has been compromised with a threat or a system error has occurred. This is a social engineering trick designed to pressure users into taking actions that they normally would not take. One of these tactics presents users with a ‘Stop code: CRITICAL_PROCESS_DIED’ message. Next, the user is advised to get in touch with ‘Microsoft Support’ immediately to solve the problem. However, the intimidating alert is not legitimate, and the phone number that the user is provided with is no way affiliated with the Microsoft Corporation.
Con Artists Tend to Push Bogus Products and Fake Technical Support
Most con artists who promote tactics claiming that the user’s system is in dire danger tend to try and push expensive, fake anti-malware solutions that do not provide any value to the user. Some even try to get users to subscribe to overpriced and useless technical support that they claim will assist them in any technical emergency their system may face. However, the dodgy actors behind the ‘CRITICAL_PROCESS_DIED’ tactic will present the users with a fraudulent website that urges them to fill in their login credentials into the empty fields - a classic phishing attack. Cyber crooks tend to collect the login credentials of users either to sell them to other cybercriminals or use them for their own unsafe ends; either way, users whose data has been compromised are in deep trouble. The authors of the ‘CRITICAL_PROCESS_DIED’scam have provided a phone number where they urge users to contact them (855) 723-3755. Despite the claims of the con artists that this is a phone number that will provide the user with technical support from the Microsoft team, once you use a search engine to look for the number in question, you will see numerous reports from users stating that the individuals operating with this phone number are responsible for a variety of different hoaxes.
Keep in mind that no website can provide you with reliable information about your computer’s health and safety, and if a page is claiming to do so, it should raise a red flag immediately. If you find yourself on a similar Web page, we would advise you to leave the site without clicking on any of the pop-ups.
