MoneyPak "FBI" Scam Virus

I've been hearing about a virus going around lately that is meant to lock up someones computer with an FBI message accusing you of sexual offenses and threatening imprisonment if you don't pay through MoneyPak. It's a scam, I just want to alert the online community of this so people will not be tricked into paying these thieves.

Nonetheless, here's instruction on how to remove the virus, if you ever get it.
Article: http://malwaretips.com/blogs/fbi-online-agent-virus/

Sounds like a similar virus to one that sneaked into my computer through a fake torrent. It 'locked down' the machine and displayed a picture of a copper alongside a payment form. It said I'd been caught infringing copyright, and had to pay a fine for intellectual theft, or I wouldn't be able to use my computer any more.

I can imagine it being quite alarming for some people. The use of English though, was nothing short of appalling, and it had scam written all over it. The police don't hijack your computer and demand a digital transfer of your money.

I don't trust anti-virus programmes such as Norton, AVG, MacAfee, or any that are run by businesses. Since going back to a Windows OS, I've been using ClamWin alongside Clam Sentinel, and I'm enjoying the longest spell of malware free computing I've ever had whilst using Windows.

Graveyard wrote:
I don't trust anti-virus programmes such as Norton, AVG, MacAfee, or any that are run by businesses. Since going back to a Windows OS, I've been using ClamWin alongside Clam Sentinel, and I'm enjoying the longest spell of malware free computing I've ever had whilst using Windows.

What I use is Firefox as a browser, with 2 add-ons. Adblock plus and noscript. Adblock gets rid of advertisements, which are often vectors of attack, noscript takes a little figuring out, it blocks scripts from running on a site. It's very useful for surfing new sites, but often you have to allow parts of a site to run scripts to get the site to work. I just allow one thing at a time, until the site functions normally. Script elements such as "adtracking" or things like that I never allow.

One nice thing about these two add-ons (besides way low virus problems) is websites load faster without all the extra garbage trying to load and run on ur computer!

Adblock is excellent. I just tried NoScript, because it sounds a good idea, but it was messing up Ebay and I haven't got the attention span today to enable one thing at a time until a site works.

Thanks anyway, because I'm sure it will be a handy add-on to enable at times!

Yea, a friend of mine got that "police virus" locked up his machine.

Ad block plus is really good and noscript too. I also use HTTPS Everywhere. It helps protect you from things like FireSheep. It encrypts data between the user and major websites like wikipedia, google etc. Its produced by the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

When I have to access a site that runs Java (Eewwww..) I use a separate browser.

HaxX wrote:Yea, a friend of mine got that "police virus" locked up his machine.

Ad block plus is really good and noscript too. I also use HTTPS Everywhere. It helps protect you from things like FireSheep. It encrypts data between the user and major websites like wikipedia, google etc. Its produced by the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

When I have to access a site that runs Java (Eewwww..) I use a separate browser.

Ah, thanks for reminding me about that one (HTTPS everywhere). Had to reinstall the OS recently and forgot to put that one back in Firefox.

HaxX wrote:When I have to access a site that runs Java (Eewwww..) I use a separate browser.

You're right. "Friends don't let Friends run Java." (c) Mikko Hypponen, F-Secure CEO.

Friend of mine got this scam last week. Removed in 2 hours with Malwarebytes: http://privacy-pc.com/how-to/fbi-moneypak-virus-computer-locked-by-fbi.html
The probable reason - outdated Java machine.

Wow..if this is a scam.....what about my friend the Nigerian prince?
Is my budget Viagra and $50 Rolex still legit?

:p