General Chat

My husband's computer was "locked" this morning, supposedly by the Met. Police, as he had been using "illegal sites". He was asked to pay £100, or his computer would be seized. The local police are aware of this, and told him it was a scam.
Liz

Has he unlocked it - and if so, how?

Was it really locked or was he just told it was?

Yes, it is locked - unless he pays his £100!!! We have someone coming to look at it - Liz

Have you tried Ctrl/Alt +delete, this should bring up task manager you can then select to end what ever is running/locking your PC, select "end task"

also have you tried switching your PC off then rebooting

Roy

Pays £100 to who??? If he can't access his computer to 'pay' it's not a very bright scam is it? :-S

Not that I'm suggesting he pays I hasten to add.

So it looks like its a virus NOT a scam

Try starting in safe mode, Tap F8 when booting your computer then select safe mode then do a system restore to a date before you downloaded the virus

Roy

Have you tried a restore or is it completely locked from the start up?

it IS a scam its malware...........

seriously do a system restore to a couple of days ago, in safe mode.

reboot and tapp f8 ....to get into safe mode

and then run a malware scan........

Bob

Nope it completely locks all keyboard input, ctrl-alt-delete wont function......

this is the same scam but using australian police logo

UKASH "" Virus""

Although the Australian Federal Police Ukash Virus and its relatives are often referred to broadly as viruses, it should be emphasized that they have, so far, been found to lack any form of self-propagation, including infecting large swathes of files in the fashion of a virus. Likewise, the Australian Federal Police Ukash Virus does not appear to be able to distribute itself through networks or removable drive devices, although related PC threats may be designed with distributing the Australian Federal Police Ukash Virus in mind.

Sending the Australian Federal Police Ukash Virus to Your Personal Jail (AKA, the Recycling Bin)

The Australian Federal Police Ukash Virus launches with Windows and claims that your PC will remain frozen (in addition to other types of impending legal penalties, such as jail time) until you pay its Ukash fee. SpywareRemove.com malware researchers strongly discourage paying this fee, since there’s no certainty that the Australian Federal Police Ukash Virus will unlock your computer and since the Australian Federal Police Ukash Virus has no affiliation with real law enforcement.

Because Australian Federal Police Ukash Virus’s pop-up will block you from using other programs or, in fact, any other part of your PC, you should try to disable the Australian Federal Police Ukash Virus by launching in Safe Mode. In cases where Safe Mode fails to block Australian Federal Police Ukash Virus’s startup routine, SpywareRemove.com malware experts can recommend a USB drive-based system boot as a certain solution. After the Australian Federal Police Ukash Virus fails to show its pop-up, you can remove the Australian Federal Police Ukash Virus with any good anti-malware software that’s at your disposal.

Bob

There is a warning in today's Computeactive magazine that this is a bogus scam to beware of.

what was the outcome, Liz?

Happened to me a few months back,luckly my g/daughters boyfriend knew how to clear it as it happened to him and his mother mentioned it to her solicitor and he told her what to do,let me know how you go on,as i can get in touch with him to help
Sheila

going out now,wont be back till 2

Thanks Sheila - waiting for it to be sorted out this afternoon - will post the outcome. Hadn't thought how anyone would pay the fine if their computer was locked - not that we intended to anyway!
Liz

install a good antivirus program. Avast is a good one and its free. i been using it for several years and it keep my computer clear of viruses and mailware

It ISNT a VIRUS................it is malware,that attacks windows based systems..


you can get it from anywhere that has popups

Liz read through the suggestions.........and let us know if we were right???

Bob

I have an anti malware programme as well as an anti virus. Hopefully it would find that one.

I have mcaffee on my other laptop and Avast on this one,
but I got it a while back, and system restore,Then a malwarebytes scan cleared it...

Bob

Most of the popular malware programs don't pick this up :-( but using an up to date browser helps a great deal.

Here is a typical end user fix
http://malwaretips.com/blogs/remove-your-computer-has-been-locked-ransomware/

From XP onwards Microsoft OS have the option to install "System Recovery" as a boot option but few people bother until some disaster strikes and by then it is too late...

You should be able to boot the system from DVD using the system / rescue DVD (assuming you have not lost it). From there you can rescue your data before a fresh installation (which will wipe yr data). You may need to change the BIOS so that booting from DVD is the default.

There are various Windows boot CDs/DVDs available on eBay but many of these are in fact malware!

Another way around the problem is to boot the system from linux and rescue the data from there before a fresh OS installation ...

If you cannot boot from DVD fro any reason then most reasonably modern computers can be booted from a USB key or an external DVD connected by USB.

Yet another work around is to replace the hard drive (they are as cheap as chips) and then extract the data form the compromised drive using an external connector (£ 5-10).

fwiw this particular hassle tends to be associated with (a) older browsers especially IE8 and older versions of Firefox and (b) certain web sites which have stuff such as pirated software, videos and such. Youtube sites with links can also be dangerous...

If anybody wants to @surf on the wild side of the net then it is best to use a sandbox.

The use of such software is a criminal act and any attempt to extort money as a result even more illegal. The real police are unlikely top show much interest in your locked computer but are likely to take an interest in any attempt at extortion. However in that case they will take you computer away as evidence and you will not see it for some time ( months ). Take your pick.

good luck



<3

Rollo the Red- I am sure all your information you have provided is in good faith and correct and will be understood by people who could have sorted out the problem themselves.
It reminds me of a section in the Computeractive magazine which is called Jargon buster. Its no more helpful than a chocolate fireguard , unless you are at a level to understand in which case an explanation isn't necessary.-jl