Last Wednesday, the , freezing assets of 14 companies charged with bilking consumers by posing as tech support from name-brand firms including Dell, Microsoft, Symantec and others.

In a statement last week, FTC chairman Jon Leibowitz said the criminals had "taken scareware to a whole other level of virtual mayhem."

The scammers cold-call consumers posing as representatives of major technology companies such as Dell, McAfee, Microsoft and Symantec, telling them that their Windows PCs are infected with malware and offering to help them scrub their machines -- for as much as $450.

In reality, the PCs are malware-free.

Computerworld readers and others used the crackdown to report their experiences with the scammers.