Recently I was attacked by New Zealand E-crime Lab virus on my Android smartphone. It happened on my computer before so I knew it was a scam. I just can’t believe it is able to infect my phone too!!! This virus blocked me from doing anytime on my phone and it said my phone has been locked up for safety reason and all files in my phone has been encrypted. It asked me to pay a fine of NZD $100 with 24 hours. I cannot exit the page at all. Even though I have restarted my phone a thousand times, it did the same thing. What should I do?
“New Zealand E-crime Lab Virus” is an infamous virus designed by cyber hackers that can be used to attack computers or smartphone users in New Zealand. This virus was first found in July 2013, with the ability to block up both Windows computers and Mac computers. However, as the time goes by, this virus can even run itself on Android system. The hackers have aimed at the growing Android market so they threw the virus to spam email and hacked website all over the Internet or bundled with other apps or games to wait for users to download. Therefore, this virus now has the ability to take all Android phones hostage and it has infected thousands of phone users in New Zealand. This ransomware will never let you access to your phone, instead it will display a fake message titled with “Your phone has been blocked up for safety reasons.” It misleads you into thinking this is a real message from the law enforcement agencies such as the Ministry of Public Safety New Zealand ransomware or Centre for Critical Infrastructure Protection (CCIP) and a fine of NZD $100 is necessary to unlock the phone. However, the fact is this is a fake page designed by the criminals. Actually, the police will never lock your phone or keep track of your online records. If you really violate the law, they won’t simply lock your phone and demand some money, instead they will come to your home and arrest you.
The virus is widely distributed on the internet. People usually get the virus through downloading and installing a so-called “video player” app. Once it gains an access, it locks up the phone immediately and indicates your phone is locked for the reason that you have been distributing the pornographic material, spam, copyrighted content or you have been visiting the pornographic website. It says that the things you did have violated the law so New Zealand E-crime Lab blocked your phone and you should pay the money to get it unlock. This ransomware asks you to pay a fine through Ukash – a prepaid card that doesn’t allow you to track your money or get a refund even if you finally realize you are fooled. The warning even states that if you don’t pay the money within 24 hours, your phone will be locked forever and you will be sent to the court. Be careful! This message is nothing but a trick of this virus. Message displayed on your phone is not real so it is suggested users not spend money paying for the fine. When you phone was hacked, the first thing you should do is to search the net and find out what it is. And then you should contact experts for help if you are not a cyber talent for this type of phone virus. It is important to know that New Zealand E-crime Lab is not relevant to any law enforcement because it is a tricky and risky phone malware. Don’t hesitate to rid it off your phone.
It will take control of your mobile phone rapidly once it is downloaded.
It will pretend itself as a legit warning and then ask for a ransom.
It will not allow you to change your phone settings or open Google Play to download antivirus program.
It will not let you power off the phone or do anything else except for inputting the demand Ukash code.
It may damage your computer data and the Android system.
1. “New Zealand E-crime Lab” virus scam can attack smartphones running with Android or Mac OS X system.
2. Don’t pay for anything or provide your personal information to this hoax, it won’t help lock out of the fake FBI virus warning but just waste your money.
3. Currently no app is able to detect or remove this malware, even for preventing the virus from attacking the computer again.
Although this virus page seems to be legitimate, it is 100% fake. It even uses web cam control to make users panic and make them to pay for the ransom wrongly. If your computer is infected, your camera may turn on automatically. It makes you into thinking your picture has been taken and sent to the legal authorities. And someone you don’t know is now watching what you are doing. The fake warning will lock your device forever and block you from doing anything. As mentioned above, we can see how this scam works to deceive innocent users. It is good at using scare tactic to extract money from victims. Hence, users must get rid of “New Zealand E-crime Lab” virus page from the Android phone as soon as possible.
1. Restart your phone to safe mode.
Note: “Safe Mode” on Phone starts up without loading any third-party add-ons and different devices have different ways to access safe mode.
For example:
For Samsung Galaxy S4: 1. Power down. 2. Turn on and repeatedly tap the soft-button for “Menu.”
For Samsung Galaxy S3 and others: 1. Power down. 2. Turn on, then press and hold Volume Down (Galaxy S3 and others), Volume Up (HTC One and others), or Volume Down and Volume Up together (various Motorola devices) when the vendor’s logo appears.
If you have managed to select Safe Mode, you will see the text “Safe Mode” at the bottom left corner of the screen.
2. Once you have put your phone in safe mode, contact an expert for further removal instruction.
New Zealand E-crime Lab virus can not only attack computers, it also can lock up a phone and make lots of troubles to smartphone users now. The Smartphone market now is targeted by the eyes of the cyber criminals. They are now seeking for the leaks of the Smartphones to reach their objective of making profit by tricking the innocent the Smartphone users. If your phone has been hacked, instead of showing your app icons, you will get a message telling you that your phone has been linked to email spam and also the distribution of pornographic content involving minors. The hackers also add a script in the virus code that can automatically display the IP address and city of the victims in order to make them in panic and mistakenly pay for the ransom. Victims should ignore the message and be aware that this is nothing more than a virus and the virus will steal your confidential information and damage your phone’s operating system if you don’t have it removed. Now please take immediate measure to remove New Zealand E-crime Lab virus from your android phone to avoid further attacks.
Note: Manual removal is a skillful and risky job, if any mistakes are made in the process, you may damage your phone immediately. If you are not sure how to do, please contact YooCare PC experts 24/7 online for help right now.
Published by on August 30, 2014 9:23 am, last updated on September 22, 2014 10:13 am
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