Most Internet users can't tell the difference between a real pop-up warning and fake ones designed to trick them into downloading malware. According to a new North Carolina State University study, it was a doddle to fool people online even as you are warning them not to click on suspicious-looking pop-ups.

Users can't tell the difference between a real pop-up warning and fake ones designed to trick them into downloading malware. According to a new North Carolina State University study, it was a doddle to fool people online even as you are warning them not to click on suspicious-looking pop-ups.

The study, titled "Failure to Recognize Fake Internet Pop-up Warning Messages," was published in Proceedings of Human Factors and Ergonomics Society. Study co-author Michael Wogalter, Professor of Psychology at N.C. State, said he wasn't really sure how credible companies could come up with warnings that couldn't be duplicated by malware purveyors.

The study used undergraduate students who were given legitimate pop-up messages simulating Windows warnings and the bogus ones coming from an outside source. More than 63 percent of participants clicked on fake pop-ups during the study.