The cybercriminals, 2 men and a woman, were arrested in Staffordshire in the UK for spreading so called ransomware.
The ransomware infected users computers like a virus and directed the unknown users to a webpage claiming to be from the Metropolitan police. The paged contained a message saying that illegal web use had been detected and the user had to pay a £100 fine.
The warning page was legit looking using logos from Metropolitan Police and the Police Central Crime e-Crime Unit (PCEU). This lead no techy victims to believe they were under investigation and pressured them into paying a fine, which ended up in the pockets of the cyber criminals.
Det Insp Jason Tunn from the PCEU said “I remind all computer users that police do not use such a method to impose or enforce fines, so if you are confronted by such a page do not enter any of your details”.
The use of Ransomware has become very popular amongst cyber criminals, as the profits are big. Both private and public computers are at risk – learn more about how to avoid Ransomware.
Recently an Australian medical center has been hit by ransomware taking 4000 patient journals for ransom. This has lead CERT Australia, the national Computer Emergency Response Team, to warn against ransomware and encourages users to stay alert and avoid paying the criminals should they fall victim to the scam.