Some people have been reporting that their computers have been locked and that they are presented with a screen that reads something like:
Computer Crime & Intellectual Property Section
United States Department of Justice
Attention!
This operating system is locked due to the violation of the federal laws of the United States of America! Following violations were detected:
Your IP address is “xx.xx.xx.xx“. This IP address was used to visit websites containing pornography, child pornography, zoophilia and child abuse. Your computer also contains video files with pornographic content, elements of violence and child pornography! Spam-messages with terrorist motives were also sent from your computer.
This computer lock is aimed to stop your illegal activity.
To unlock the computer you are obliged to pay a fine of $ 100.
You must pay the forfeit through Paysafecard:
To do this, you should enter the 16 digits resulting code (if necessary with a password) in the payment form and press OK (if you have several codes, enter them one after the other and press OK).
If an error occurs, send the codes to address surcharge@cyber-usa-police.gov.
This pop-up will haunt you forever, even if you pay the “fine”. Just don’t do it.
This type of ransom-ware can be removed with tools such as Malwarebytes generally, but you should examine WHY you have it in the first place.
Visiting sketchy websites is always a bad idea, so is running your computer without the latest updates to the Operating System, Java, Adobe, Office and other applications, and of course not having proper anti-virus in place.
If you have difficulties removing this type of malware and you are in the Greenville or Upstate SC area, please call us at 864.990.4748 or use the contact info tab above. We provide virus removal, virus cleanup and more importantly, virus and malware protection!
Comments 2
It is my daughter’s laptop that is infected. I have tried to get her up in safe mode but unable to get in without the screen error described above. I do have malware antibytes software on her computer but unable to get to programs because of the screen. Any suggestions?
Paul,
SO sorry to hear your troubles. If you are in the Greenville / Upstate SC area, please come see us…
If not, then here’s what I would do:
Remove the drive from the infected computer, use an external drive enclosure or USB adapter and connect it to a known good computer – BUT DO NOT BOOT OFF OF IT… You can plug it in after the computer is up, and then you should be able to run virus scan software on it. Malwarebytes can scan it, so can Trend Micro’s free House Call, however, they cannot fix the registry, so after the malware is removed, it may have some problems booting, but at least you may be able to get it into safe mode this way.
Another sure fire fix – back it up, and reinstall! In fact, I recommend that as the desired action, but let’s face it. Nobody wants to do that!
Best of luck!