Thread: Internet Extortion?

Damn! I had that exact thing pop up last week. After I figured out that it was seemingly a Java Applet and I ran McAfee (and it found nothing!) I just let it sit and waited to see what it might do. Ultimately, left on it's own it popped up 4 windows (touting that sale) and sat there. At one point I restarted it and kept it disconnected from the internet and the web page still appeared! That was the key that it was a Java thing. Since this was a work laptop that has heavy encryption, and - I'd recently had a HD crash so everything was newly installed anyway there was no damage it could do really - but I'm not sure I'd let it sit like that without first running a virus detection program.

Long story short, McAfee found nothing, I ultimately shut it down and used another computer until I could get back into town, and 3 days later when the tech guys came to see it, it was all gone! No sign of it since. No clue really as to what is was, but the consensus is that that company popped the Applet on it, programmed it to annoy the user for a day or two, and goes away naturally after a day or two.

The key for me would be to immediately run a virus detection program in case it's something more destructive and just a temporary annoyance.

I'm not sure if this is the same thing I've seen, but it might be basically popup ads which hijack your browser. The ones I've seen are annoying for sure. The pop ups would tell me my Windows system has x number of viruses detected (I use a Mac) and when I'd try to hit cancel it would send me to a page where I could buy 'anti-virus' software. The website wouldn't have any legitimate contact information - just a link for buying their software. Usually I could just close the page and resume my browsing.

I ended up installing anti-ad software, deleting all of my cookies and being more mindful of the sites I browse and I haven't seen one of these popups for quite sometime.

This sounds like the Conficker worm to me. Here is a link to Wikipedia about it. There is also a paragraph about how to remove it. Hope this helps.

It really is extortion. The bug gets into your computer and tells you it can go away for $49.95! As it turns out Scarlett bought a laptop a few months ago and had the disc for Webroot Spy Sweeper. I loaded it and the problem is solved.

I don't understand how the people who do this aren't in jail.

I paid a one time fee to be free of this type of stuff for the rest of my computer's life. It's called the Apple tax.

-Rob

Originally Posted by sicboater

I paid a one time fee to be free of this type of stuff for the rest of my computer's life. It's called the Apple tax.

-Rob

One Time Fee?

LOL he's on a Mac.
They hardly get affected by any of that stuff.

Originally Posted by icedog

I don't understand how the people who do this aren't in jail.

Mostly it's because law enforcement can't get at them. For example, the code of the Conficker worm has been analyzed and the first thing it does is check to see if the computer is using a Ukrainian keyboard. If it is, the worm shuts itself off. What does that tell you?