Holy Cow! Help!

Discussion in 'Computer Science & Culture' started by Magical Realist, Sep 17, 2014.

  1. Magical Realist Valued Senior Member

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    When I just tried to log onto Sci Forums a screen came up claiming my computer was locked up by the FBI because it had child porn, was used for spamming, and had committed copywright infringement. Totally UNTRUE! Anyway, it said if I send them $300 these charges may be overlooked. Sounded fishy to me, and after numerous attempts I finally got out of that page. What is this shit? Has someone hacked my computer? Is it a virus?
     
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  3. sculptor Valued Senior Member

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    Please call the attorney general of your state and share your experience.

    Do you think anyone will be dumb enough to send the $?
     
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  5. Kittamaru Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Adieu, Sciforums. Valued Senior Member

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    Magical Realist - this is a pretty common scam (commonly called the MoneyPak Scam) and is a part of a virus that has managed to get on your computer.

    There are several variations of it - if you like, and if you still have access to your computer at this time, I can use a program called TeamViewer to remote in and possibly remove it (would depend on the variation) - it was somewhat common a few years ago when I worked with Geek Squad, though I'm not 100% sure I can do it without the secure-environment tools we had to use therein.

    Shoot me a private message if you're interested - I realize the thought of handing even temporary access to your computer over to some random face on the internet is a bit much to ask, but trust me when I say: This is one of those viruses that will only get worse (often to the point of completely locking you out of your computer if you reboot)

    EDIT - nevermind - apparently several users are seeing this upon accessing the website... this is actually new to me - I've never seen a web-deployed variant of this virus!
     
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  7. milkweed Valued Senior Member

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    Yep a virus. I got tagged by that scam 2 years ago. Unplugged from the network, went onto another computer and looked for a fix. Nothing worked to remove it but I was able to get enough control back to grab a couple of docs from the desktop I didnt want to lose onto a thumb drive and I ended up formatting the partition.

    Reminds me to back up my bookmarks file...
     
  8. C C Consular Corps - "the backbone of diplomacy" Valued Senior Member

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    One of the reasons why I prefer Firefox browser to Internet Explorer and even Chrome is its easy-to-click JS Switch addon (among many others). If you suspect a site could be infected, a quick javascript shutoff beforehand may inhibit the malware's ability to get a foothold. As well, flash-player and other plugins can be conveniently disabled or set on "Ask to activate" mode, which are also common routes for malware to invade. SciForums still has most functionality even with javascript killed on a browser, when/if there are ominous days like this.
     
  9. Magical Realist Valued Senior Member

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    Last night I couldn't access Sci Forums all night. Could this be some sort of cyberattack on the site?
     
  10. Magical Realist Valued Senior Member

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    I should've thought of that before I got out of the site. The worst part of it was they actually had a few pics of childporn on the page. I just glanced at them and scrolled up from them immediately. Disgusting a-holes! I think this scam might actually work on a lot of people. Not that that many people have child porn on their computer, but hell who knows what filth crawls into your harddrive when you're not looking.
     
  11. Kittamaru Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Adieu, Sciforums. Valued Senior Member

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    The virus I thought it was (codenamed MoneyPak) actually locks your PC before you get to the login screen... it, quite literally, hijacks your entire system and holds it ransom - when you put a credit card in, it will tell you it's been "denied" and to try again. Even if you send a Money Order, it tells you it was declined... I've had people come in saying they tried three or four cards before they gave up... only thing I could tell them was to call ALL of the card companies they used and cancel the cards.
     
  12. danshawen Valued Senior Member

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    This sounds like it might be some variant of the Cryptolocker virus, which since about September 2013 started a scam that ransomed user documents and files after encrypting them and storing a public unlock key on one of their servers. They also charged $300-$500 for file recovery and the unlock key. Many small businesses paid, and that seemed to have bankrolled the perpetuation of such nonsense.

    On a site: www.bleepingcomputer.com, you can obtain a small script Tom wrote that changes your default security settings so that such scum cannot just waltz in and encrypt your data.
     

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