Can you get reimbursed when you purchase spyware?

I thought it would be useful to see this back and forth I recently had with a reader. His question was:

"In your opinion, does being victimized by such intruders as "Antispywaremaster" constitute fraud if in fact you authorize a debit of your account? I am in the process of disputing my purchase of their spoof antispyware program which infected my computer & would like your opinion on what the likelihood is of recovering my losses. Thanks."

This was my response:

"Let me preface my answer by stating that I am not a lawyer, and my opinion carries no weight in a court of law. But I believe that your credit card company should reverse the charge, as most cards have a provision to contest services or products that do not perform as promised, and this is as clear a case of non-performance as you can find.

As far as continuing a charge of fraud, in an effort to recoup damages over and above the initial charge for the software, I'm not sure how good your chances would be. A large portion of these malware writers are overseas, and law enforcement types are reluctant to go after groups unless they have rung up large losses.

BTW: Two good anti-spyware programs I use are: Spybot S&D http://www.safer-networking.org/en/download/index.html and Lavasoft's Ad-Aware http://lavasoft.com/single/trialpay.php both are free. I have great dislike for programs that pretend to be spyware, then infect your computer."

His response was:

"Your reply will not be used to bolster a law suit as I do not intend to pursue one but rather aid me in my resolve to recover MC charges & fees to my account."

This is good news, as the credit card company should reimburse for the faulty software, but it would be nearly impossible to collect damages from a virus maker. And be sure to always check AV sites, like Symantec or McAfee, or other info sites, before you download software.

And you can keep up with security news and info on the RDV Group news feed, at:
http://www.rdvgroup.com/rdv1/pages/Headlines/Default.aspx