The summer of 2012 will be forever marked by the avalanche of surreptitious and highly disturbing ransomware, one of which is FBI Moneypak - a deceptive virus that has already affected thousands of home systems all over the United States. It is impossible to start writing about this infection without mentioning that tens of different malignant programs based on the same attack methods could be analyzed alongside the virus in discussion as tens of analogous examples have been reported attacking computer owners in Canada and all across Europe, from Portugal to Sweden. Nonetheless, FBI Moneypak is a perfect model of the truly devious and dangerous applications which have been designed and distributed to trick regular Windows users into paying fines for crimes that actually have no legal reasoning.
FBI Moneypak is a ransom-ware Trojan better known by names Citadel or Reveton, and this infection can expose the registry to multiple malware components. Infected dynamic link library files, executables and other elements are programmed to take over Windows Registry almost immediately after ransomware infiltrates the computer. With reconfigured registry values, hijacked processes and removed administrative controls, schemers can immediately lock targeted computer's screen and present a bogus message. The fictitious notification is supposed to be represented as a legitimate warning from the Federal Bureau of Investigation - a well-known governmental agency, respondent to the United States Department of Justice.
The name and the logo of the department are used illegally for the malignant purposes of cyber criminals, a force that the FBI fights instead of taking its side. Schemers are smart enough to understand that only a strong, reliable and respectable name of the FBI could gather enough attention and trick more people into trusting completely fake accusations and eventually giving in by paying the aggressively demanded fines. The bogus alert, allegedly forwarded by the FBI, might be filled with statements about your browsing habits, pornographic videos' distribution, illegal music downloads and potential malware existence. Below these incriminating and intimidating claims you will be notified that unless you pay the demanded fine, your computer could be confiscated and you could be arraigned, facing a fine as big as $100,000.
Most infected computer users will find it difficult to remove FBI Moneypak even if they realize the scam because of the seemingly irreversible system's lock-down. Despite this, there are a few tricks that could be used to regain access and delete the vicious infection. Some users will be able to remove the Trojan using system restore function after rebooting their PCs into Safe Mode with Command Prompt, whilst others could try the Safe Mode with networking feature. In this case, one should download legal, automatic FBI Moneypak removal software, disable startup programs and install adopted tools within normal mode of the operating Windows system. Overall, it is tremendously important to delete the vicious cyber criminals' tool and refuse any bogus statements or accusations as they are completely simulated and can only bring financial detriment.
Research made in September, 2012
http://www.anti-spyware-101.com/
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