Yesterday my mom turned on our computer (which we hardly EVER use, seriously, EVER) and wanted to look up pictures and info on this singer who died recently.
Well, as she was typing she said that out of nowhere this pop up took over the whole screen and it was accusing us of child pornography and that we have to pay 300 dollars to unlock it. she freaked out and just turned it off (she doesn't know much about computers)
she then told me about it once I got home and this morning we turned it on to check it out but it's still there.
The computer works normally up until it finishes loading, that's when it pops up and theres no way out.
So basically, is this a virus? Or like scareware?
I've looked up info on it and there are similar things (yet they look totally different) that have happened to people.
No one uses the computer (I have a laptop), and I know for sure that no one in my family has a fetish for kiddie porn or anything of the sort.
And the computer wasnt even working well up until my dad took it to get it fixed a couple of months ago (to some guy he knows no less).
im assuming its a virus since I doubt paying 300 dollars will just cover the whole illegal act. I mean, im sure someone would go straight to jail if they were caught with stuff like that right?
Answers & Comments
Verified answer
Yep its a virus....a fake one...don't believe anything you read
Easy removal
Reboot computer.....select Safe Mode with Networking.
Download and Scan with free MBAM and remove infection......done.
http://www.malwarebytes.org/
Its called ransomware. It accuses people of various things and locks the computer. There are many of these and the removal method varies.
One simple thing you can try is a system restore ( it works sometimes ) This can be achieved by safe mode with command prompt, or on windows 7 by using a repair disc, however most likely you will need to do a lot more work.
Can you post more details
If its the ukash metropolitan police thing thayts definitely a virus, I got it some time ago, took me 3 hours to find virus. You have to go in safe mode, regedit, current user, microsoft, windows, current version, then default, sorry if not correct. This is off top of my memory, it should come up with files that are software names, that u have installed, there's probably this one with a bunch of letters and numbers, delete it, you should be fine then. If you don't want to gamble on your pc and make a mistake search up a bit more or get a pro
This is so fake!!
It IS scareware.
Spybot Search & Destroy will quarantine it for you to safely delete it.
Ccleaner will help, too. Do NOT send money.
This video shows how to remove the most common of the FBI ransomware infections. Is this the one you have?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bVbCABjf38
Hope this helps