Courtesy of a link provided by Australian reader Snoggeramus, today's winner is from Virginia. (Talk about an international award!)
Jay Matthew Riley, 21, of Woodmark, Virginia, freaked out when an "FBI Warning" message appeared on his computer while he was allegedly looking at child pornography at home.
The message, which was a virus, told Mr Riley he had to either pay a fine or would be subject to a criminal investigation, Prince William County Police Department said in a statement.
Instead, Mr Riley took himself and his computer down to the police station, to ask if there were any warrants on his file for child pornography.
Police found inappropriate messages and photos of girls as young as 13 on the computer.
Mr Riley has been charged with five sexual offences related to the content found on his computer.
For once - just for once - let's hear it for a computer virus! At least this one helped to put a scumbag where he belongs - behind bars!
Peter
The thing I haven't seen is any report on what viruses were found. This type of ransomware (pay us or be investigated) commonly actually puts illegal content on the computer. Hopefully they had reason to believe that the illegal content was put there by him rather than the virus.. I mean, what are you supposed to do when a virus comes up telling you you'll be arrested for content it put on your computer? You should report it to the police right?
ReplyDeleteI saw a report a few years ago about a kid who got a virus on his computer and the feds came knocking because the virus was distributing child porn through his internet connection. So they prosecuted him anyway, and said he had to register as a sex offender when he turned 18. A lot of law enforcement is ignorant when it comes to technology and viruses.
That is just too perfect, and at least it gets one more of them off the street!
ReplyDeleteActually, that's not even half the story, and the half that's there is dead wrong.
ReplyDeleteThese are called blackmail viruses, extortionware, or ransomware (though technically ransomware is a larger category that includes other types as well) and they're becoming increasingly common.
The guy wasn't actually browsing child porn. The virus infected his computer, downloaded child porn onto it, and then popped up the blackmail message.
This has happened to tens of thousands of people all over the world. Do a quick search and youll find many examples.
However, idiot law enforcement are idiots etc... etc...