Removal Instructions Green Dot MoneyPak virus (FBI or Police Scam)

If your computer is locked, and you are seeing a notification from the police asking you to pay a fine via Green Dot MoneyPak, then your computer is infected with a piece of malware known as Trojan Reveton.

This threat is distributed through several means. Malicious websites, or legitimate websites that have been compromised, may drop the threat 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. Ransomware 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 Green Dot MoneyPak virus will display a bogus notification, that pretends to be from the official law enforcement agency and states that your computer has been blocked due to it being involved with the distribution of pornographic material, SPAM and copyrighted content.
The Reveton trojan 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 in the form of a MoneyPak code.
Furthermore, to make its alert seem more authentic, this virus also has the ability to access your installed webcam ,so that the bogus notification shows what is happening in the room.
Green Dot MoneyPak is a
The MoneyPak payment method is used by cyber criminals in the United Stated of America and Canada along side with the name of different law enforcement agencies like Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI),The United States Department of Justice, Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and other similar organizations.

The message displayed by the threat can be localized depending on the user’s location, with text written in the appropriate language. Depending on the variant, the Trojan may only display a message in the language spoken by its authors, or the country that was intended as the main target of the attack.
Here is an example of how the bogus police notification may look:

Department of Justice
Federal Bureau of Investigation

ATTENTION!
IP: xxx.xxx.xxx
Country: US United States
Region:
City:
ISP:
Operating System: : Your Country Here
Username:

Your PC is blocked due to at least one of the reasons specified below.

You have been violation Copyright and Related Rights Law (Video, Music, Software) and illegally using or distributing copyrighted content, thus infringing Article I, Section 2, Clause 8, also known as the Copyright of the Criminal Code of United States of America.

Article I, Section 2, Clause 8 of the Criminal Code provides for a fine of 2 to 5 hundred minimal wages or a deprivation of liberty for 2 to 8 years.

You have been viewing or distributing prohibited Pornographic content (Child Porno/ Zoofilia and etc). Thus violating article 202 of the Criminal Code of United States of America. Article 202 of the Criminal Code provides for a deprivation of liberty for 4 to 12 years.

Illegal access has been initiated from your PC without your knowledge or consent, your PC may be infected by malware, thus you are violating the law of Neglectful Use of Personal Computer. Article 210 of the Criminal Code provides for a fine of up to $100,000 and/or a deprivation of liberty for 4 to 9 years.

Pursuant to the amendment to the Criminal Code of United States of America of August 28, 2012, this law infringement (if it is not repeated – first time) may be considered as conditional in case you pay the fine to the State.

Fines may be paid within 72 hours after the infringement. As soon as 72 hours elapse, the possibility to pay the fine expires, and a criminal case is initiated against you automatically within the next 72 hours!

To unblock the computer, you must pay the fine through MoneyPak of $200.

This bogus Federal Bureau of Investigation notification is a  MoneyPak scam, and you should ignore any alert that this malicious software might generate.
Under no circumstance should you send any money via MoneyPak to these cyber criminals, as this could lead to identity theft,and if you have, you ca request a refund from MoneyPak >> HERE << , stating that the payment was due to a scam and a computer virus.

MoneyPak Scam – Virus Removal Instructions

STEP 1: Remove MoneyPak lock screen from your computer

The Reveton trojan 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 MoneyPak virus will allow the users to start the infected computer in Safe 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 MoneyPak 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 MoneyPak 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, Windows Vista, 7 and 8 users, can just type : C:\windows\system32\rstrui.exe.
   If you are using Windows XP, you will need to type C:\windows\system32\restore\rstrui.exe, and then press ENTER.
   
4. The System Restore window 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,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.

IF the MoneyPak virus didn’t allow you to start the computer in Safe Mode with Command Promptyou’ll need to follow Method 3, to get rid of its screen lock.

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Method 3: Remove MoneyPak 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 MoneyPak virus malicious files from your computer

No matter what method you have used to get rid of MoneyPak lock screen, we will need to remove its malicious files from your computer.
Please download and run a scan with the following scan to completely remove MoneyPak virus from your computer.

Run a computer scan with Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Free