Enlarge / A tech support scam pushed by Zirconium displays the authenticated URL of Microsoft, making it easy for some people to trust. (credit: Confiant) Last year brought a surge of sketchy online ads to the Internet that tried to trick viewers into installing malicious software. Even credit reporting service Equifax was caught redirecting its website visitors to a fake Flash installer just a few weeks after reports of a data breach affecting as many as 145.5 million US consumers. Now, researchers have uncovered one of the forces driving that spike-a consortium of 28 fake ad agencies.