Electronics

[Jordan2]

I was watching my local news and they had this story of two different women who got a message on their computers that their files were encrypted (I think that's what it said) and if they wanted them back they needed to pay $400. One woman paid and got her files back.I think she had to pay by a gift card.The other woman had a friend who knew a lot about computers but he couldn't figure it out. She refused to pay and lost all her pictures, recipes, etc. I don't understand how someone can get away with this. I just hope this isn't going to become something we all must worry about.

[scotnovel]

I am pretty sure this is a scam.

Don't ever pay an anonymous source to do anything with your computer especially based on an email or computer screen message. If you don't know what to do at least check with someone who actually knows something about computers - your local computer store (don't use mom and pop computer repair shop unless you know they are legit).

You should also have a security program that scans for viruses regularly and also picks up on new threats to your computer.

Also your computer can quit at any time so you should never ever lose anything like picture etc because you should ALWAYS have some kind of regular backup system. If nothing else at least put copies of your pictures and other items that you don't ever want to lose on flash drives (this isn't hard to do - I am in 60's and do it all the time and I have an aunt in her 80's that does it).

[dooBdoo]

On 3/7/2014 jordan2 said:

I was watching my local news and they had this story of two different women who got a message on their computers that their files were encrypted (I think that's what it said) and if they wanted them back they needed to pay $400. One woman paid and got her files back.I think she had to pay by a gift card.The other woman had a friend who knew a lot about computers but he couldn't figure it out. She refused to pay and lost all her pictures, recipes, etc. I don't understand how someone can get away with this. I just hope this isn't going to become something we all must worry about.

Was this a pop-up message? Or did it arrive in an email?

It's important to avoid clicking on anything like this in email or in pop-ups even if they look official or reliable. Even those that tell you to update your Adobe Flash should be avoided (go directly to the website to see if there's an update available), since there are unscrupulous people who have created pop-ups that look identical to the real thing.

The criminals are getting away with this because most of them are located outside the U.S. and it's very hard to find or prosecute them.

[Nightowlz]

It is a scam. DH got one that says it's from the FBI & he needs to pay $$$ to fix it. They even put a pic of him on the screen using the webcam on his laptop. DH fixes it himself. I think his is from going to what I call sm~ut sites. LOL!!! Don't ever click on pop ups or click links on emails that you don't know who they are from. I wonder if they were talking about Cryptolocker? We have an external hard drive we use for backup in case we need it.

[dooBdoo]

On 3/7/2014 Nightowlz said:

It is a scam. DH got one that says it's from the FBI & he needs to pay $$$ to fix it. They even put a pic of him on the screen using the webcam on his laptop. DH fixes it himself. I think his is from going to what I call sm~ut sites. LOL!!! Don't ever click on pop ups or click links on emails that you don't know who they are from. I wonder if they were talking about Cryptolocker? We have an external hard drive we use for backup in case we need it.

That sounds like the FBI ""Ransomware"" scam:

http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2012/august/new-internet-scam/

[Buck-i-Nana]

Those of you saying it's a "scam" comes off sounding as though you don't believe it, but it is in fact happening as the fbi report dbd posted reports. The files are encrypted with a military grade encryption that so far nobody has been able to unencrypt. Paying the ransom is no guarantee they will unlock the files either.

Best thing is to be smart. Back-up regularly so if something like this does happen to your system, you haven't lost anything. Be very careful about clicking on ANY links even from people you trust and on sites that you trust.

Too many people are vulnerable because they have their user account on their computer set with full administrator rights. The smart thing to do is to set your account without admin rights, that way even if you click on a link that tries to install something on your computer it cannot be done because the authority is not there.

[jackthebear]

I saw the end of that story channel 2 or 4 NY @Buck I Nana. I had read the same re admin account too! although transferring all my data over to and 2nd user account has not been easy to do. I started to do it.

[Mindy D]

People do not usually get anything in return for paying. This is an international scam, with servers in countries such as Russia. The US can't do anything unless the country where the criminal ring is works with the US. You may have to wipe everything off your computer and restore again. My BIL is a systems engineer working on a major govt. program. It happened to him, and when he couldn't get anywhere the security person for the place where he works has to wipe his computer and then put his work and personal things back in his computer. He works from home and his company restored everything for him. He is an expert's expert and even he was a victim.

[In-x-s]

It is the new cryptolock (or something like that) virus. In some cases, they only give a certain window of time to pay or the files are locked for good. If you pay, you get the key to unlock the encrypted (password protected) files.

Another good reason you should BACK UP YOUR FILES. But since some of these also hit network drives, you shouldn't keep your back up drive attached to the computer.

[IamMrsG]

Read about CryptoLocker at Snopes.com.