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Thread: The new computer scam

  1. #1

    The new computer scam

    Had a friend tell me about his sister getting hit by this. She went to use her computer, it said that it had been locked out. In order to unlock it, they would need to send $500 in Bitcoin payment to them. She called around, trying to find some help, called the police, the police told her to call the FBI, she called the FBI and the FBI said "Pay it, it's nothing we can do and it's the only way you'll get access back, have a nice day".

    She didn't know what a Bitcoin was, got with someone that helped her with that, she paid the people $500 in Bitcoin, they gave her access back to her.

    It's untraceable, and real money has changed hands.

    It was interesting he was telling me that, as I had read about it on some tech site not too long ago.

    Just something to be aware of out there. It's not fake, it's very real.

    Even the police department paid up!
    http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/l...220-story.html
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  2. #2
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    I saw a story on this a couple of weeks ago on NBC Nightly news. The options were pay the extortion fee or buy a new computer.
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  3. #3
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    Nothing new about this. You friend got really lucky; they usually just ignore you when you pay them. But they are likely to do it again next week, so maybe not so lucky.
    Don't open emails that look the least bit odd, don't go to odd websites, and back up you computer daily.

  4. #4
    Quote Originally Posted by Wade Lippman View Post
    Nothing new about this.
    I think the new part to me is that they are basically taking over your computer and encrypting all the files or access to the files. So the files are there, just encrypted. You pay them to get the key to unlock the encryption and it appears to actually be people there that will unlock it, not just some scammer that takes your cash and leaves you with the worthless computer.
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  5. #5
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    This scam started a couple of years ago. Search about cryptolocker. By now there are no doubt immitators.

  6. #6
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    I just read about this cryptolocker thing.

    I wouldn't pay them.

    First, there is no guarantee they will unlock your files.

    Second, There is no guarantee they won't hit you again.

    Third, Everyone that does pay them encourages them to hit someone else.
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  7. #7
    Just take it somwhere and have them format the drive and lay the operating system back down. Costs a lot less thn $500.

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by Scott Shepherd View Post
    ...called the police, the police told her to call the FBI, she called the FBI and the FBI said "Pay it, it's nothing we can do and it's the only way you'll get access back, have a nice day".


    Even the police department paid up!
    Really doubt that this is true, FBI saying have a nice day that is. The fact they can't / won't do anything is incomprehensible

  9. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by Pat Barry View Post
    Really doubt that this is true, FBI saying have a nice day that is. The fact they can't / won't do anything is incomprehensible
    Pat, that comment wasn't meant literally, but just that they said there wasn't anything they would do and it was up to her to figure it out because they weren't going to do anything. It's a figure of speech around here, and that's just how the story was told to me. I'm sure they didn't end the call with "have a nice day", but they did tell her they wouldn't do anything about it.
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    They give step by step instructions on how to remove the software. You may be able to copy your files via a linux cd also. there is no real reason to pay for this.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Izzy Camire View Post
    Just take it somwhere and have them format the drive and lay the operating system back down. Costs a lot less thn $500.
    This is the right answer more or less. Just pull out those recovery discs you made when you first setup your system, restore your system, re-install any additional applications you added and restore your files from your latest backup. If my machine were compromised today I would only lose 3 days of work.

    I realize many, many people are just barely users of computers but, anyone responsible enough to balance a checking account can perform a regular backup. Backups are easy today. The excuses of the past are just that, excuses. when you're done with Facebook or World or Warcraft for the night, fire off a backup before you get up to walk away; its that simple.

    Just so you don't think I'm just preaching here, I too fail to do backups now and again. It is almost without fail that during any extended period between backups is when something will go wrong. Murphy has definitely kept pace with the information age
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  12. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by glenn bradley View Post
    Just pull out those recovery discs you made when you first setup your system, restore your system, re-install any additional applications you added and restore your files from your latest backup. If my machine were compromised today I would only lose 3 days of work.
    No reason to lose 3 days of work. There are several free programs that will back you up to the cloud. I've never needed to do a restore, but I have recovered files I deleted on my computer months ago. (I made a hotel reservation and canceled it. After getting the cancelation confirmation I deleted everything. 4 months later the hotel charged me because I didn't show up. Would have had to pay if I hadn't been able to recover the confirmation.)

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by Lee Schierer View Post
    I just read about this cryptolocker thing.

    I wouldn't pay them.

    First, there is no guarantee they will unlock your files.

    Second, There is no guarantee they won't hit you again.

    Third, Everyone that does pay them encourages them to hit someone else.
    How do they hit you with this encryption scheme? An email attachment?

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    Quote Originally Posted by Pat Barry View Post
    Really doubt that this is true, FBI saying have a nice day that is. The fact they can't / won't do anything is incomprehensible
    They can't do anything for two reasons: 1) It's a personal system, and 2) It's 256-bit crypto*.


    Quote Originally Posted by Jerome Stanek View Post
    They give step by step instructions on how to remove the software. You may be able to copy your files via a linux cd also. there is no real reason to pay for this.
    Once encrypted, there's nothing you can do about it without the key*.




    * I starred both responses because there's a caveat. When this ransomware first hit the streets, it was a true 256-bit crypto key. Brute force will not get you an unencrypted drive within your lifetime with a 256-bit key. However, some copycats decided they wanted in on the action... the problem was they didn't understand crypto, and their implementation of the algorithm was poor. This poor implementation effectively hobbled the key (offhand I don't recall how many bits worth it dropped), leading to a brute force attack on a much smaller key length being feasible. Software is now available to guess the key on the hobbled version and get your data back.

    Nutshell... if you are unlucky enough to get the real version, you have two choices: 1) Pay the ransom and hope the send you the key, or 2) reformat. There are NO other options.
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  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by Scott Shepherd View Post
    Had a friend tell me about his sister getting hit by this. She went to use her computer, it said that it had been locked out. In order to unlock it, they would need to send $500 in Bitcoin payment to them. She called around, trying to find some help, called the police, the police told her to call the FBI, she called the FBI and the FBI said "Pay it, it's nothing we can do and it's the only way you'll get access back, have a nice day".

    She didn't know what a Bitcoin was, got with someone that helped her with that, she paid the people $500 in Bitcoin, they gave her access back to her.

    It's untraceable, and real money has changed hands.

    It was interesting he was telling me that, as I had read about it on some tech site not too long ago.

    Just something to be aware of out there. It's not fake, it's very real.

    Even the police department paid up!
    http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/l...220-story.html
    It stinks these people can rip you off because of this encryption scheme.

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