Scam thieves never sleep. The more defense mechanisms are created, the more scam artists create new scams or variations on old ones.
The “browlock” is a fairly new and one you should be aware of. Learn how to escape the scam without losing anything. Do the wrong thing and you may be exposing yourself to serious losses on your computer.
This is an example of a “browlock.” The scam artist really has not locked your computer but has displayed a message in hopes of frightening you into doing something wrong and giving him/her access to your computer.
DO NOT CLICK ON THE MESSAGE
Clicking on the message may activate a program which embeds itself on your computer and activates malicious actions. It may track your keyboard actions, stealing your passwords, it may track your Internet use and access your online accounts after you have used them, and it may even eventually freeze your computer.
KEEP CALM and ESCAPE
Instead of clicking on the message, ESCAPE by pressing the ESC key, or the BACKSPACE KEY…better still, POWER OFF your computer and let it reset itself. Very likely you will have backed away from the threat and won’t see it again.
DEFEND YOURSELF BY LEARNING
Your best defence against scammers is to spend a little time each week exploring the topic of Scams, Frauds and Computer Hacking on the Internet or find a blog that writes about scams and informs you about them.
However, don’t ignore scams. Learn how to defend against specific ones and guard yourself according.
Tip thanks to Robert W.
