A new social engineering scam targeted me this evening. My laptop caught a bug that hast to be part of a major scam. It claimed to be from the ICE Internet Cyber Enforcement or some such crap like that with images of the Department of Homeland Security seals. it claimed that I had accessed copyright materials amoung other supposed cyber crimes. The computer was locked even when I shut down and restarted. It then said that I had 48 hours to pay a $400 fine or I would be prosecuted. The bug cleared up after having let the computer run for an hour, and then shut it down. This is a sofisticated social engineering scam. The tip off was that ICE stands for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The demand for $400 to avoid prosicution also stood out as a serious crime as are listed would NEVER be resolved with such a small fine. Also, the federal government does not have the legal authority to lock individual computers WITHOUT a signed warrent by a judge. Share this story with everyone you know.

It's the cyber police!

http://youtu.be/jG1h-BAYSbE

I don't know if that qualifies as "social engineering scam". Just plain malware scam.

Its a variant of the moneypak scam.

If any of your friends or family falls for this, please find new friends and family.

While the OP is correct about pointing out that its pretty obviously a scam by offering to settle your supposed legal woes for a measly $400, the real tip off is that the notice directs you to a convenience store or Walgreens and tells you to pay up by buying a $400 moneypak card.

I guess the sequester shut down the US Treasury and all US Government fines are now being handled thru 7-11 stores nationwide.

Sigh....Why do I laugh when I see these threads....OK, for the last time (hopefully). STOP VISITING THE FREE NAUGHTY WEBSITES!!!!

Yeah, I've seem this scam a few times awhile a go (never on my computer )... the difference?, this time the malware is saying it's from a goverment agency, last year it used to say "we are hackers, pay us or you will be screwed"

Fake Anti-Virus sales are also popular: Hi, we've just met and this is crazy. You've got a virus so buy me maybe?

But yeah. Has nothing to do with social engineering.

lol. or those,

"Hey, we scanned your entire computer just now as a courtesy and you have 158 viruses detected on your computer. Viruses detected were, TROJAN 1231, WORM97345, SWINE FLU, and MALWARE TRACKER SUPER VIRUS 7. Please accept this un requested help and this link to antivirus software that will clean all this up for you."

Always loved that.

The point is that I don't want fellow players to fall for this malware scam. Please stay vigilent, my firends.

Every so often I die a little inside when a customer comes into my shop after falling for this scam. So far this year already had four who paid for scam antivirus software.

The saddest one I had, though? Last year, customer had a hijack that locks out the shell entirely and replaces it with a form saying the FBI has remotely seized the computer and you have to pay a fine... and the fine must be paid in the form of Ultimate Game Cards. Because the government is apparently in the business of foregoing cash revenue in order to buy crap in free to play MMOs. And the guy paid it. Then when it didn't release the computer, he paid it again. Only after paying twice did he contact the FBI to get the computer unlocked and find out it was a scam.