Metropolitan Police ransomware

Metropolitan Police Virus "Your Personal Computer has been blocked" removal guide

This message, purportedly sent by the Metropolitan Police, demands payment of a 100 Pound fine for allegedly watching pornography involving minors. This is a scam, a ransomware virus created by cyber criminals whose intention is to scare unsuspecting PC users from the UK into paying a bogus fine.

In fact, paying this fine is equivalent to sending your money to cyber criminals. Neither the Metropolitan Police nor any other international authority or organization use screen blocking messages to collect fines for any law violations.

This particular ransomware virus infection originates from a family called Revoyem and currently targets PC users from the UK and Germany. These deceptive messages are localised so that computer users from Germany observe them as if sent by Bundeskriminalamt.

The Metropolitan Police ransomware virus displays a number of photos of supposedly-recorded instances of users' watching pornography involving minors. This is merely a scam and PC users should not fall for the trickery displayed by this ransomware.

If you see a message such as this on your computer desktop, your PC is infected with a ransomware virus and you should ignore it. The correct way to deal with this infection is to eliminate it from your operating system.

The Metropolitan Police name is exploited by cyber criminals in order to make their deceptive message appear authentic. The most common source of ransomware viruses of this type are 'exploit kits', which are able to infect the operating system by exploiting detected security vulnerabilities.

Exploit kits are often proliferated using email messages, malicious websites, and drive-by downloads. When infected with the Metropolitan Police ransomware virus, PC users should not pay any fines using the Ukash or PaySafeCard pre-paid card services.

If you do, you will send your money to cyber criminals responsible for creating this scam, and there is no guarantee that your computer will be unlocked.

Note that the statement, "Attempt to unblock computer by any other means will lead to formatting of the hard drive except for the evidence of criminal activity", is false. If you see this message on your computer screen, use the removal guide provided to eliminate this scam.

A fake message displayed by the Metropolitan Police virus:

Metropolitan Police.
Your Personal Computer has been blocked.
The work of your computer has been suspended on the grounds of unauthorized cyberactivity
All the illegal actions that you performed on this computer were recorded and classified in the Police Database. This also includes photos and videos that were taken by your camera for further identification. You've been charged with viewing pornography that involves minors.

Carefully review the following violations please:
Article - 174. Copyright
Imprisonment for the term of up to 2-5 years (Using or sharing copyrighted materials).
Fine amount varies from 14,000 Pounds to 23,000 Pounds.
Article - 183. Pornography
Imprisonment for the term of up to 2-3 years (Usage or distribution of pornographic materials).
Fine amount varies from 18,000 Pounds to 25,000 Pounds.
Article - 184. Pornography involving children (under 18 years)
Imprisonment for the term of up to 10-15 years (Usage or distribution of pornographic materials).
Fine amount varies from 24,000 Pounds up to 40,000 Pounds.

According to the Government decision as of December 04, 2012, all of the violations described above can be considered of criminal character.
The amount of the fine constitutes 100 Pounds. The payment should be made within the next 48 hours after your computer has been blocked. In case the fine is not paid, you will became the subject of a criminal prosecution with no right to pay the fine. The personal Computer you are using will be confiscated by the Cyber Crime Agency. The criminal case you fall under will be considered for the items stated above. You will have to pay the fine in the amount of 16,000 Pounds with further imprisonment.
In case the fine is paid within the period of time indicated, your computer will be unlocked.

Attempt to unblock computer by any other means will lead to formatting of the hard drive except for the evidence of criminal activity. A fists-time violation might not lead to imprisonment, in case of a first-time violation you have to pay the fine in accordance with the Law of Loyalty of the People as of December 04, 2012.
You are obliged to pay the fee of 100 Pounds to unblock your computer and avoid all the other legal procedures (Ukash or PaySafeCard).

Metropolitan Police virus removal:

Step 1

Start your computer in Safe Mode. Click Start, click Shut Down, click Restart, click OK. During your computer starting process press the F8 key on your keyboard multiple times until you see the Windows Advanced Option menu, then select Safe Mode with Networking from the list.

Video showing how to start Windows 7 in "Safe Mode with Networking":

Step 2

Log in to the account infected with Metropolitan Police virus. Start your Internet browser and download a legitimate anti-spyware program. Update the anti-spyware software and start a full system scan. Remove all entries detected.

If you cannot start your computer in Safe Mode with Networking, try performing a System Restore.

Video showing how to remove ransomware virus using "Safe Mode with Command Prompt" and "System Restore":

1. During your computer starting process, press the F8 key on your keyboard multiple times until the Windows Advanced Options menu appears, and then select Safe Mode with Command Prompt from the list and press ENTER.

2. When Command Prompt Mode loads, enter the following line: cd restore and press ENTER.

3. Next, type this line: rstrui.exe and press ENTER.

4. In the opened window click "Next".

5. Select one of the available Restore Points and click "Next" (this will restore your computer system to an earlier time and date, prior to the ransomware infiltrating your PC).

6. In the opened window click "Yes".

7. After restoring your computer to a previous date, download and scan your PC with recommended malware removal software to eliminate any remnants of Metropolitan Police virus.

If you cannot start your computer in Safe Mode with Networking (or with Command Prompt), boot your computer using a rescue disk. Some variants of ransomware disable Safe Mode, making its removal more difficult. For this step, you require access to another computer.

After removing Metropolitan Police virus from your PC, restart your computer and scan it with legitimate antispyware software to remove any possible remnants of this security infection.

Other tools known to remove the Metropolitan Police (Your personal computer has been blocked) virus:

• Malwarebytes Anti-Malware

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