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Inside a Ransomware Money Machine

Posted by Unknown on from the spam-this-time-it-breaks-your-legs dept.

tsu doh nimh writes "The FBI is warning that it's getting inundated with complaints from people taken in by ransomware scams that spoof the FBI and try to scare people into paying 'fines' in lieu of going to jail for having downloaded kiddie porn or pirated content. KrebsOnSecurity.com looks inside a few of the scams in the FBI alert, and it turns out it only takes 1-3 percent of victims to pay up to make it seriously worth the fraudsters' while."

1 of 158 comments (clear)

  1. Hah! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    My buddy got one of those from watching waaaaayy too much porn, and actually called the FBI who told him it was a virus.

    What it does is lock your screen with an FBI logo and official-looking message, even displaying the output from the webcam if there is one, saying that unless the mark pays $200 or so using a Bitcoin-like form of payment one can get at convenient stores, the user will be arrested for downloading CP and/or "copyrighted material." Certain keys are locked, obviously, so you can't do the 3-finger salute and kill it with the task manager.

    A boot into safe mode and a little MsConfig was enough to fix, though not remove, the malware.

    -- Ethanol-fueled