Gardaí warn of ‘Police Trojan’ computer locking virus

An Udaras

GARDAÍ ARE WARNING the public to be wary of a computer virus which locks computers displaying a police logo and asks users to pay a fine.
The scam has been in operation in other countries and Gardaí say that the virus detects the country in which the computer is located and downloads the appropriate police logo and locks down the user’s screen.
A pop up claims that the computer has been used to carry out illegal activities and demands payment of a fine in order to unlock the computer.

A Garda spokesperson has said that members of the public would never be contacted in this way and that users should not share their bank details or pay out any money. If a computer user is deceived into paying a fine they should contact their local Garda station as soon as possible.

Be careful folks and spread the word...

http://www.thejournal.ie/gardai-garda-police-trojan-scam-virus-logo-locking-488837-Jun2012/

zenno

Interesting. There will always be people that still won't use pc antivirus software and they will end up paying money to these scammers.

Willbbz

info@online-cyber-police.com

I'm not sure if the scammer is stupid or the people falling for them

Raging_Ninja

you have no idea how stupid people are when it comes to computers.

cocoshovel

People should stop visiting the most dodgey porn sites and downloading crap. I cant see any other way of getting these viruses.

flyingsnail

cocoshovel wrote: »

People should stop visiting the most dodgey porn sites and downloading crap. I cant see any other way of getting these viruses.

Well according to Symantec, web wanderers are more likely to get a computer virus by visiting a religious website than by peering at porn (Link).

But any time I have repaired somebody computer I am amazed at how many add-on tools bars they seem to have in their web browser and they have no idea where they got them. The unfortunate fact is that as long as people still fall for these scams, and scammers continue to make money and think up new and improved ways to take people money

Zambia

Chances are the Trojan is in a dodge email who ever opens the attachment is probably not going to want police attention. Barely legal and all that sort of stuff.

zenno

flyingsnail wrote: »

Well according to Symantec, web wanderers are more likely to get a computer virus by visiting a religious website than by peering at porn (Link).

But any time I have repaired somebody computer I am amazed at how many add-on tools bars they seem to have in their web browser and they have no idea where they got them. The unfortunate fact is that as long as people still fall for these scams, and scammers continue to make money and think up new and improved ways to take people money

I get the same thing when i am given a computer to repair. The amount of toolbars and oddball stuff on the system is crazy and when i ask about them the person hasn't a clue how they got there, but it's obvious that when they are installing a program they don't bother to look at the checkboxes to uncheck all the extra junk that is in with the program/software. Lazyness is the cause i'd say. They just want the software and don't want to spend a few seconds reading the extra junk and just click ok ok ok done.

monkeysnapper

im on the other side of it, i went into my local computer repair centre, my netbook was virtually grinding to a stop , i just couldnt figure it out , i asked guy if he could just reinstall windows on it, in fairness to bloke he said basically your barking up the wrong tree. Anyway i just got a strop on when i got home, i downloaded all data from netbook onto a 1tb hardrive and then went to town in the uninstall programs, i couldnt believe the amount of crap that was on my netbook. there was loads of toolbars.
At the end i probably spent a hour deleting programs and at end netbook was running like a dream!!!!!!!!! i did loose my sound, i had to download my sound driver again but that was no problem, BUT going off the topic slightly, i deleted my copy of avg free and subscribed to a months trial which ran out ages ago and didnt do anything about it, but netbook is still running like a dream, i dont visit any religious sites or the other , yeh ive kind of gone of topic sorry

sdanseo

Darwinism applies here - if you are stupid enough to fall for this you deserve to lose €100. Sadly, I am reguarly amazed at how incredibly uneducated people are with computers and not even older folks, but students etc as well. It's ridiculous that there's no proper, mandatory JC/LC subject for computing.

StinkySocs

This just feckin happened to me, I was watching revenge, now I wish I had been watching porn, then it might have been worth while!!

hughb2

Hi guys, It just happened to me and gave me an awful shock. It actually activated my webcam and had my picture in the corner... i quickly rebooted my computer and all seems fine now... Is it possible its still on my computer? what is the best way to check and get rid of it?? Thanks

Alan70

hughb2 wrote: »

Hi guys, It just happened to me and gave me an awful shock. It actually activated my webcam and had my picture in the corner... i quickly rebooted my computer and all seems fine now... Is it possible its still on my computer? what is the best way to check and get rid of it?? Thanks

System restore to a week or so previous.

Tyron Jara

Alan70 wrote: »

System restore to a week or so previous.

Yes it works. Easy to get rid of. Fierce annoying though

Potential-Monke

Anyone who doesn't have it, should download and install Malwarebytes Anti-Malware. Run it and it will get rid of all the crap that's on your PC.

And, to fix this specific issue, you need to get the latest version of Malwarebytes onto a USB stick, boot the affected computer in safe mode, and install and run the program. That will get rid of this malware.

majimbo

just had my wifes laptop locked this evening. Just as hugh said it has evolved and now shows your video picture in the top left corner.

I managed to do a system restore while rebooting in safe mode ans it appears to have worked as I'm now using the laptop.

I hve avg free on the laptop but i suspect the wife doesn't update or maybe it didnt work

cheers to all the advice on the issue

Potential-Monke

Also, again i'd urge you to download, install and run Malwarebytes.

tricky D

It's a lot easier to get malware these days. You can be hit even if you haven't opened dodgy attachments or visited dodgy sites. Malware exploits many more vectors than just those.

As for getting rid of it, it's more complicated than just doing a system restore or just running the very excellent Malwarebytes Anti-Malware. Malware can be bloody persistent despite such measures. Have a look over here: Tech > Computers & Technology > Virus & Malware Removal - http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=1009 to get an idea of the steps required to really get this off a machine.

dirkmeister

Lads, got this virus today on my laptop. Can anyone tell me how to get rid of it? Thanks.

Potential-Monke

dirkmeister wrote: »

Lads, got this virus today on my laptop. Can anyone tell me how to get rid of it? Thanks.

Download the latest version of MalwareBytes onto a USB (as in download and install onto the USB, and then update), boot the laptop in safe mode (F8 after pressing the power button), run the program, et viola.

sunflower27

Hi all

This happened to me yesterday as well. I amreally not very IT literate, so can someone please explain to me in really simple terms how to get rid of it.

Yes, there is a webcam picture on the screen now and I have to say it is VERY convincing.

No, I did not fall for it but can see how people could. I think saying anyone that falls for it should lose the €100 is grossly unfair. Not everyone is proficient in computers. It doesn't mean we are stupid. The screen looks very different to the original post here. It is very convincing to someone not familiar with how viruses work.

Thanks for any help in advance.

Sempai

Tricky D posted a link to the Virus and Malware forum above which is useful. If you're competent in computing you will be to remove it yourself using the advice there or there's more info on Microsoft's website http://www.microsoft.com/security/portal/threat/encyclopedia/entry.aspx?Name=Trojan:Win32/Reveton.A

Otherwise, get someone you know that's competent in computing to do it for you or bring it to a repair shop.

B.A._Baracus

Just got the fake garda page.
Out of no where it popped up and wouldnt let me 'leave page' - just used the task manager to close. Gonna run a scan now.

Geez these dickheads think of everything to scam.

goldie fish

It is quite difficult to exit. And not even looking at anything naughty when It popped up.

bravestar

goldie fish wrote: »

It is quite difficult to exit. And not even looking at anything naughty when It popped up.

How many times have I heard that.,, I swear, I was on a "social site". Xhamster does not a social site make

DesertCreat_15

bravestar wrote: »

Xhamster does not a social site make

Is that you, yoda?

goldie fish

bravestar wrote: »

How many times have I heard that.,, I swear, I was on a "social site". Xhamster does not a social site make

I wasn't on xhamster at that particular time...

whatever xhamster is.... ahem.:rolleyes:

Truckermal

goldie fish wrote: »

I wasn't on xhamster at that particular time...

whatever xhamster is.... ahem.:rolleyes:

Hamster's! !! Its a great reference site for them and little furry things like that..:)