Removal Instructions Abu Dhabi Police GHQ virus (CashU Scam)

If your computer is locked, and you are seeing a “ATTENTION! Your PC is blocked!” notification from Abu Dhabi Police GHQ , then your computer is infected with a piece of malware known asTrojan Reveton.

This threat is distributed through several means. Malicious websites, or legitimate websites that have been compromised, may drop this trojan onto a compromised computer. This drive-by-download often happens surreptitiously. Another method used to propagate this type of malware is spam email containing infected attachments or links to malicious websites. The threat may also be downloaded manually by tricking the user into thinking they are installing a useful piece of software.
The Abu Dhabi Police GHQ virus is also prevalent on peer-to-peer file sharing websites and is often packaged with pirated or illegally acquired software.

Once installed on your computer, the Abu Dhabi Police GHQ virus will display a bogus notification that pretends to be from the Abu Dhabi Police, and states that your computer has been blocked due to it being involved with the distribution of pornographic material, SPAM and copyrighted content.
The Abu Dhabi Police GHQ virus will lock you out of your computer and applications, so whenever you’ll try to log on into your Windows operating system or Safe Mode with Networking, it will display instead a lock screen asking you to pay a non-existing fine of 100$ or 100 Euro in the form of a CashU code.
Furthermore, to make this alert seem more authentic, this virus also has the ability to access your installed webcam, so that the bogus Abu Dhabi Police GHQ notification shows what is happening in the room.

The Abu Dhabi Police GHQ virus locks the computer and, depending on the user’s current location, displays a localized webpage that covers the entire desktop of the infected computer and demands payment for the supposed possession of illicit material.

Cyber criminals often updated the design of this lock screen, however you should always keep in mind that the Abu Dhabi Police will never lock down your computer or monitor your online activities.
The message displayed by the threat can be localized depending on the user’s location, with text written in the appropriate language.

The Abu Dhabi Police GHQ lock screen is a scam, and you should ignore any alerts that this malicious software might generate.
Under no circumstance should you send any  Ukash or Paysafecard code to these cyber criminals, and if you have, you can  should request a refund, stating that you are the victim of a computer virus and scam.

Abu Dhabi Police GHQ lock screen – Virus Removal Guide

STEP 1: Remove Abu Dhabi Police GHQ lock screen from your computer

Abu Dhabi Police GHQ Paysafecard Ransom has modified your Windows registry and added its malicious files to run at start-up, so whenever you’re trying to boot your computer it will launch instead its bogus notification.To remove these malicious changes, we can use any of the below methods :

Method 1: Start your computer in Safe Mode with Networking and scan for malware

Some variants of Abu Dhabi Police GHQ virus will allow the users to start the infected computer inSafe Mode with Networking without displaying the bogus lock screen. In this first method, we will try to start the computer in Safe Mode with Networking and then scan for malware to remove the malicious files.

1. Remove all floppy disks, CDs, and DVDs from your computer, and then restart your computer.
2. Press and hold the F8 key as your computer restarts.Please keep in mind that you need to press the F8 key before the Windows start-up logo appears.
   Note: With some computers, if you press and hold a key as the computer is booting you will get a stuck key message. If this occurs, instead of pressing and holding the “F8 key”, tap the “F8 key” continuously until you get the Advanced Boot Options screen.
3. On the Advanced Boot Options screen, use the arrow keys to highlight Safe Mode with Networking , and then press ENTER.
   
4. If your computer has started in Safe Mode with Networking, you’ll need to perform a system scan (as seen on STEP 2) with Malwarebytes Anti-Malware and HitmanPro to remove the malicious files from your machine.

IF the Abu Dhabi Police GHQ virus didn’t allow you to start the computer in Safe Mode with Networking,you’ll need to follow Method 2 to get rid of its lock screen.

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Method 2: Restore Windows to a previous state using System Restore

System Restore can return your computer system files and programs to a time when everything was working fine, so we will try to use this Windows feature to get rid of Abu Dhabi Police GHQ  lock screen.

1. Restart your computer, and then press and hold F8 during the initial startup to start your computer in safe mode with a Command prompt.
   Note: With some computers, if you press and hold a key as the computer is booting you will get a stuck key message. If this occurs, instead of pressing and holding the “F8 key”, tap the “F8 key” continuously until you get the Advanced Boot Options screen.
2. Use the arrow keys to select the Safe mode with a Command prompt option.
   
3. At the command prompt, type cd restore, and then press ENTER.
   Next,we will type rstrui.exe , and then press ENTER.Alternatively, if you are using Windows Vista, 7 and 8, you can just type : C:\windows\system32\rstrui.exe , and press ENTER.
   If you are using Windows XP, you will need to typeC:\windows\system32\restore\rstrui.exe, and then press ENTER.
   
4. The System Restore utility will start, and you’ll need to select a restore point previous to this infection.
   
5. After System Restore has completed its task, you should be able to boot in Windows normal mode, and perform a system scan (as seen on STEP 2) with Malwarebytes Anti-Malwareand HitmanPro to remove the malicious files from your machine.

IF the Abu Dhabi Police GHQ  virus didn’t allow you to restore your computer to a previous point, you’ll need to follow Method 3 to get rid of its screen lock.

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Method 3: Remove Abu Dhabi Police GHQ  lock screen withmsconfig utility

When your computer was infected with the Abu Dhabi Police GHQ virus, this trojan has set a its malicious files to start whenever your computer is booting. IF you didn’t have a restore point, we can use msconfig to remove it’s malicious start-up entry.

1. While your computer is in Safe Mode with Command Prompt, type msconfig to start theWindows System Configuration utility.
   
2. Click on the Startup tab, then search for any suspicious or unknonw entries (random numbers or letters, ctfmon.exe, and other suspicious or unknown entries), and unckech them from startup, then click on OK.
   This will stop the Abu Dhabi Police GHQ virus from starting with Windows, however it won’t remove the malicous files from your computer.
   
3. Type shutdown /r in the command prompt to restart your computer, then  perform a scan with Malwarebytes Anti-Malware and HitmanPro as seen on STEP 2.

IF the Abu Dhabi Police GHQ virus didn’t allow you to start the computer in Safe Mode with Command Prompt you’ll need to follow Method 4 to get rid of its screen lock.

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Method 4: Remove Abu Dhabi Police GHQ virus with HitmanPro Kickstart

IF you couldn’t boot into Safe Mode with Command Prompt or didn’t have a System Restore point on your machine, we can use HitmanPro Kickstart to bypass this infection, and access your computer to scan it for malware.

1. We will need to create a HitmanPro Kickstart USB flash drive,so while you are using a “clean” (non-infected) computer, download HitmanPro from the below link.
   HITMANPRO DOWNLOAD LINK (This link will open a download page in a new window from where you can download HitmanPro)
2. Insert your USB flash drive into your computer and follow the instructions from the below video:
   
3. After you have create the HitmanPro Kickstart USB flash drive, you can insert this USB drive into the infected machine and start your computer.
4. Once the computer starts, repeatedly tap the F11 key (on some machines its F10 orF2),which should bring up the Boot Menu, from there you can select to boot from your USB.
   Next,you’ll need to perform a system scan with HitmanPro as see in the below video:
   
5. After HitmanPro Kickstart has completed its task,you should be able to boot in Windows normal mode,from there you’ll need to perform a system scan (as seen on STEP 2) withMalwarebytes Anti-Malware and HitmanPro to remove the malicious files from your machine.

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STEP 2: Remove Abu Dhabi Police GHQ malicious files from your computer

Run a computer scan with Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Free