FBI warning message locking up PCs; part of online 'ransomware' extortion scheme

If you are like most people, you are pretty careful online and never visit questionable or pornographic websites.

Then imagine receiving a notice from the FBI that your computer has been locked because you've been surfing where you shouldn't. Is it real? Or a scam?

Screen Suddenly Locks Up

Jennifer Werner sat down at her PC a few days ago and couldn't believe what she was seeing: a Web page she had never seen before had taken over her computer.

"I walked in and saw a screen up on the computer, and it had the FBI logo," she said. "I thought someone in the house had done something wrong or by accident."

The FBI alert stated that she had visited an illegal website and, as a result, was being locked out of her Web access.

To unlock it, it told her to pay a $200 fine.

"They wanted money. They wanted a $200 Green Dot Money Pack card to unblock your computer," said Werner.

Online Extortion, or "Ransomeware"

Werner got suspicious: Send the fine by reloadable debit card from a drugstore? She realized then it was a new type of online extortion, a virus known as "ransomware."  It is downloaded when you click on a questionable website or email.

In some cases, it uses your webcam to take a picture of you and display it back to you -- that's even more scary.

So Werner and her husband searched on their smartphones for a way to remove it and found a number of webpages on Google for removing what's called the "FBI Green Dot Moneypack Virus."

"I hit the reboot button," Dan Werner explained. "I hit F12, went to the reboot screen, and followed instructions to do a self clean, a system restore."

If this happens to you, search on another computer or phone for the fix. Or call a computer repair shop -- don't pay the ransom.

Bottom line: Assume any email or online notice from the government is a scam, especially if it doesn't include your name specifically in the notice.

The FBI, IRS, or other agencies will not email you. They will write or show up with a knock on your door.
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