Such methods have led to an estimated one million victims of scareware per day worldwide.

FORBES: The Proliferation Of Scareware Hits Home

Other trends revealed in the research were a move away from fake security software aka scareware.

BBC: Video gamers face malware deluge

Accepting the download lead to a malicious software installation and payment screen, a scam commonly referred to as scareware.

FORBES: The Proliferation Of Scareware Hits Home

Here are some of the top scareware infections right now that will likely see an even bigger rise come Oscar time.

FORBES: Oscar Night Could Be An Award-Winner For Computer Viruses

According to security firm Symantec more than 40 million people have fallen victim to scareware scams in the past 12 months.

BBC: Scareware launched from tech blog

The strategy suggests "kitemarking" cybersecurity software to help consumers and businesses avoid "scareware" - software which purports to be helpful but is, in fact, malicious.

BBC: GCHQ to help firms combat cybercrime

The number of scareware product variants was about 142 in 2004, there have been 110 new variants tracked in just the first two months of 2010.

FORBES: The Proliferation Of Scareware Hits Home

Security Shield: This scareware is particularly tricky because the web crooks have created fake reviews on Facebook and Twitter that say the product works as advertised.

FORBES: Oscar Night Could Be An Award-Winner For Computer Viruses

All of which brings us to the case of Mikael Patrick Sallnert, 37, a citizen of Sweden, who established and operated credit card payment processing services for the scareware ring cited above.

FORBES: Swedish Scareware Scammer Sentenced