VERY IMPORTANT NOTICE MUST READ

[1957horses]

Dear Survey Police Family,

This may not belong here but I didn't want it to be in the lounge because some people don't always go to the lounge.

There is a VERY BAD virus going around that will hold your computer hostage. PLEASE BE VERY CAREFUL!!!!!!!

When a VERY GOOD FRIEND "I clicked on an email from Twitter clicked it my screen went blank and another screen came up and said it was from the FBI. They said I had been committing illegal online activity and they had froze my computer. To beat all my web cam was on and there was a small screen showing me! They said I had to pay a $200 fine before they would unfreeze my computer. It scared the hell out of me at first but I calmed down and turned my laptop off. When I turned it back on all I got was the same damn screen demanding $200. My pc was locked and I couldn't do anything. I got xxxxxxx laptop and googled what the screen said. Sure enough it is a new virus and it is getting by Avast, Norton, Mcafee, AVG and all the top antivirus programs. I tried about 10 different things that people said to try and nothing worked. I went to ask.com and put in what it was and how to get rid of it. (I was about to give up after 6 hours). A guy said it was called FBI Moneypak Ramsomware and told how to get rid of it. It was a long process but I got rid of the damn thing. They call it Ransomware because they hold your pc up for ransom. One guy even said he paid the $200 and then they told him he owed another hundred but he didn't pay that. He will never get that money back. I feel for him. I told xxxxxx I would bust mine all to hell before I would pay those bastards. Thank goodness I didn't give up and found someone who would share his knowledge. I am going to do the same thing on google because no one on there knew how to get rid of it. I also downloaded the free version of Malwarebytes and ran a full scan because avast didn't show anything. Guess what? it was hiding but Malwarebytes found it and killed it. What ever you do don't click on anything in your email unless you know for sure who it is from.

I myself 1957horses got an email yesterday saying

I said "Department of homeland" Delivery of your 2 consignment call...................."

But I didn't open it. I mean I knew that I had no consigments of any type.

[idylatoo]

http://malware.wikia.com/wiki/Ransomware

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ransomware_%28malware%29

This isn't exactly a new virus. The "problem" isn't necessarily OPENING emails (at least those without attachments), but clicking on the links if you do not know the sender - and even if you do, if the email seems hinky DO NOT CLICK ON ANYTHING (like those survey site fraud emails people have been posting about here).

I edited your post because while the virus was initially created (and used) predominantly within Russia, like everything else online, it's long since spread to other countries.

The best thing ANYONE can do to avoid viruses is just to browse intelligently. Don't go to sites that end in something other than .com/.org/.net. Don't open emails if you don't know the sender. Don't click on links in an email if you don't know the sender OR it seems too good to be true or otherwise 'hinky'. Have an anti-virus program and keep it up to date. Don't install any program that you aren't 100% sure is safe.

Another tip I don't see mentioned often is that if an email from a seemingly reputable site ends up in your spam folder, don't open it unless you're absolutely sure it's legitimate. It's probably in your spam folder because it's not actually from that site.