Ransomware Scam

[Straight Shooter]

Is anyone familiar with the Ransomware scam? I was on the board and clicked one the links from the thread I created in the ID Babe section and suddenly I got a popup message from the FBI saying that my browser(Chrome) has been locked because I've been viewing or downloading child porn, beastiality and other illegal content and violating copyright laws, etc and that my browser will only be unlocked by paying a fine of $300 in the form of a MoneyPak voucher. I kept trying the close the popup but it kept coming back up again and I was not able to simply close the browser. Needless to say when I saw this my heart sank into my stomach because while I do not have child porn or beastiality on my computer, I do have alot of illegally downloaded porn(legal adult porn that is). At first glance the message looked totally legit with the FBI seal and everything including my location, IP address and that I was on a Mac. But after a few minutes I began to think why in the hell would the FBI want $300 from me? wouldn't they just come to my place and arrest me for illegally downloading porn? So I was still able to use my other browsers and I did some research and discovered that this is in fact a scam called Ransomware used to frighten people, particularly people who aren't tech savvy, into paying a ransom. I was able to close Chrome by force quitting and then I restarted my system just to be safe. Apparently Ransomware isn't a virus per se, it's just using javascript to block your browser. However, just to be safe I downloaded the free 30 day trial of Norton Internet Security and ran a scan and it turned up that I had two Trojan viruses. So if anyone gets hit with Ransomware, don't panic and pay the $300 ransom. Just force quit your browser and run a scan afterwards just to be safe

Here's an article talking about Ransomware
http://malwaretips.com/blogs/your-browser-has-been-locked-fbi-mac-os-x/

 

[sean miguel]

I got the same notification. No child porn or bestiality of course but there was some japanese alien tentacle vids. I wasn't sure where interstellar porn stood legally so I decided to pay the fine just to be safe. I didn't trust the MoneyPak method so I just wrote a check for $300 to the U.S. Dept of the Treasury. So far, I haven't heard back from them and my browser is still locked.

But now you're telling me it was just a harmless internet scam?

:hairpull:

 

[Straight Shooter]

I got the same notification. No child porn or bestiality of course but there was some japanese alien tentacle vids. I wasn't sure where interstellar porn stood legally so I decided to pay the fine just to be safe. I didn't trust the MoneyPak method so I just wrote a check for $300 to the U.S. Dept of the Treasury. So far, I haven't heard back from them and my browser is still locked.

But now you're telling me it was just a harmless internet scam?

:hairpull:

You have a Mac or Windows?

 

[sean miguel]

You have a Mac or Windows?

Windows ME. Maybe that was my problem? I'm just fuckin' with you man. Yeah, I got that same pop up and just laughed it off after the $300 part.

 

[Straight Shooter]

Windows ME. Maybe that was my problem? I'm just fuckin' with you man. Yeah, I got that same pop up and just laughed it off after the $300 part.

I have to admit that I didn't laugh at first, i was freaking the fuck out. Sadly I'm sure a lot of people actually fell for it and shelled out the $300. They said that it's not an actual virus yet the scan detected two trojan horses. So much for Macs being immune to viruses

 

[Jagger69]

Just force quit your browser and run a scan afterwards just to be safe

This always works for me as it does with any other trojan-style malware (those "virus protection warning" popups that look very real and yet are simply ways to mine your data and bombard you with spam). Don't ever try to "click" your way out of these things....just restart your computer and everything magically goes away.

 

[Petra]

This always works for me as it does with any other trojan-style malware (those "virus protection warning" popups that look very real and yet are simply ways to mine your data and bombard you with spam). Don't ever try to "click" your way out of these things....just restart your computer and everything magically goes away.

A few other things to help:

- Make yourself 2 different profiles on your PC. An Admin and a regular use. Set your permissions to not download ANYTHING without admin permission. Doesn't stop everything, but that will halt quite a bit of the viruses.

- Don't fucking install toolbars!

- Use malwarebytes and a good virus scanner (I use malwarebytes pro and avast myself).

- Don't ever use registry repair/scrubbing programs.

- Don't click on every bloody fucking link on the internet FFS.

- Never pay anyone anything to "unlock" your browser or computer unless it's a computer repair shop fixing your PC.

 

[ChuckFaze]

Apparently Ransomware isn't a virus per se, it's just using javascript to block your browser. However, just to be safe I downloaded the free 30 day trial of Norton Internet Security and ran a scan and it turned up that I had two Trojan viruses. So if anyone gets hit with Ransomware, don't panic and pay the $300 ransom. Just force quit your browser and run a scan afterwards just to be safe

You don't normally have an Anti-virus in your computer? There are some good FREE ones out there. I have used avast Free since 2008. Other well-known Free ones out there are AVG and Avira.

And as added layers of protection I use the Free versions of SUPERAnti-Spyware and Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware. Granted the Free versions of SUPERAnti-Spyware and Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware only have On-Demand protection. That FREE trio of Apps has worked well for me.

 

[Straight Shooter]

You don't normally have an Anti-virus in your computer? There are some good FREE ones out there. I have used avast Free since 2008. Other well-known Free ones out there are AVG and Avira.

And as added layers of protection I use the Free versions of SUPERAnti-Spyware and Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware. Granted the Free versions of SUPERAnti-Spyware and Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware only have On-Demand protection. That FREE trio of Apps has worked well for me.

Until recently I had Sophos Antivirus but I was having trouble with my internet connection and in trying to fix the problem everyone kept telling me that I didn't need antivirus software on Mac because Mac has all these layers of built in protection. After this ransomware scare though I think I'm going to go back to using antivirus software

 

[ChuckFaze]

Ahhh, that's right. There's the Mac factor in the equation. I forgot that you had mentioned that. Yeah, I too have heard from the Mac contingent that no Anti-Virus is needed on Macs. Being a Windows user myself I can't confirm or disprove that.

 

[Captaingault]

A few other things to help:

- Don't ever use registry repair/scrubbing programs.

- Don't click on every bloody fucking link on the internet FFS.

To our great leader, so ccleaner and such are a bad idea and should I uninstall them?

 

[brodkill]

never heard of it until now

 

[Straight Shooter]

Taylor Hart

http://peachy18.com/t/taylor-hart-268677.aspx

Not blaming Freeones or Connor but this is where I encountered the ransomware. The link itself is good, it takes you to a page of galleries of Taylor Hart but it was when I clicked on one of the galleries that the popup locked my browser

 

[cestmoi2010]

Every now and then I get this. Like you at first I was "WTF is this" and got scared. Once I read it I just restarted my puter - ran a virus scan and all was fine

I don't have MS Secuity Essentials but one time something came up on my screen saying they detected the Trojan Virus on my puter and hit something to clean it up. A family member looks after my puter so I thought maybe he installed it. I hit "clean" and it wanted me to D/L something and once that happened I knew it was fraud - once again restarted my puter and ran a virus scan and all was good

 

[ChuckFaze]

To our great leader, so ccleaner and such are a bad idea and should I uninstall them?

Pretty much on just about all the Tech Forums you go to, staying away from any and all Registry Editing / Repairing / Defragging Apps IS what they strongly recommend.

However, the consensus is that IF you really must use one of those Registry Editing Apps ... CCleaner is the safest in its default settings out of all the similar Apps out there. That's because it doesn't search / dig as deep as some of the other Registry Editing Apps. Those Apps that dig deeper and find way more stuff than CCleaner also present more of a bigger risk of fucking up your computer.

That said, I actually use not only CCleaner, but Glary Utilities and JetClean regularly. However, I am VERY careful with what I manually delete. I NEVER ever use the "Delete All" or "Fix All" buttons on any of those Apps. That WOULD be playing Russian Roulette with winding up with a FUBARed computer.

 

[ChuckFaze]

Bottom line ... you really have to know what you're doing to mess around with the Registry.

It reminds me of Mr. Miyagi's advice to Daniel in the movie The Karate Kid:

Karate do yes ... Good.
Karate do no ... Good.
Karate do ehhhhh ... NOT good. :rofl:

In other words, if your computer skills are only ehhhhh half ass ... then NOT good. You definitely don't want to mess around with the Registry.

 

[Straight Shooter]

Every now and then I get this. Like you at first I was "WTF is this" and got scared. Once I read it I just restarted my puter - ran a virus scan and all was fine

I don't have MS Secuity Essentials but one time something came up on my screen saying they detected the Trojan Virus on my puter and hit something to clean it up. A family member looks after my puter so I thought maybe he installed it. I hit "clean" and it wanted me to D/L something and once that happened I knew it was fraud - once again restarted my puter and ran a virus scan and all was good

Ransomware is a damn good way to scam though. If I weren't technologically advanced I most likely would've paid the $300

 

[cestmoi2010]

Ransomware is a damn good way to scam though. If I weren't technologically advanced I most likely would've paid the $300

100% agree and rest assured they have received more than their fair share of money from this which is why they keep doing it............most people will "fall" for this only to find out after paying they will be getting this again and again and again and again and..............until they realize it is a Scam and stop paying. And if these guys are smart - and they are - I'd up the "ransom" in all future hits knowing they will pay it so why not make even more from them being so gullible.