Samsung Phones/Tablets Get Hacked by the Fake FBI Virus? How to Unlock?

Hello. This is an urgent problem. I have a FBI message locking my Samsung phone. It is really nasty. I can’t even power off the phone. It asks me to pay $500 to unlock. It is horrible. Is it real FBI？What should I do now? Can you help me fix it?

What Is the FBI Virus? Is It Real?

Samsung is a famous Korean brand well-known all over the world. The company owns a big share of cellphone market in the United States. While along the popularity of the Samsung cellphones, the phones have more and more become one of the famous smart phones like LG, Motorola, etc. that are attacked by the notorious fake FBI virus. Since the first variant was created several years ago, the fake FBI virus has developed into an increasingly violent scam virus that can hack almost all kinds of android devices besides the Samsung cellphones. As soon as the virus has successfully sneak into your Samsung phones, the phones will be locked completely. The victims can’t do anything with them including making calls, sending and receiving messages, running any apps, etc. Many victims whose Samsung smart phones have attacked by different variants of the fake FBI virus report that the phones are stuck at the virus warning message. They can’t even restart or turn off the infected phones regardless of attempting to start any antivirus tools to detect and kill it.

AS A RESULT OF FULL SCANNING OF YOUR DEVICE, SOME SUSPICIOUS FILES HAVE BEEN FOUND AND YOUR ATTENDANCE OF THE FORBIDDEN PORNOGRAPHIC SITES HAS BEEN FIXED. FOR THIS REASON YOUR DEVICE HAS BEEN LOCKED.

INFORMATION ON YOUR LOCATION AND SNAPSHOTS CONTAINING YOUR FACE HAVE BEEN UPLOADED ON THE FBI CYBER CRIME DEPARTMENT’S DATACENTER.

FIRST OF ALL, FAMILIARISE WITH THE POSITIONS STATED IN SECTION “THE LEGAL BASIS OF VIOLATIONS”. ACCORDING TO THESE POSITIONS YOUR ACTIONS BEAR CRIMINAL CHARACTER, AND YOU ARE A CRIMINAL SUBJECT. THE PENALTY AS A BASE MEASURE OF PUNISHMENT ON YOU WHICH YOU ARE OBLIGED TO PAY IN A CURRENT OF THREE CALENDAR DAYS IS IMPOSED. THE SIZE OF THE PENALTY IS $500.00

ATTENTION! DISCONNECTION OR DISPOSAL OF THE DEVICE OR YOUR ATTEMPTS TO UNLOCK THE DEVICE INDEPENDENTLY WILL BE APPREHENDED AS UNAPPROVED ACTIONS INTERFERING THE EXECUTION OF THE LAW OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (READ SECTION 1509-OBSTRUCTION OF COURT ORDERS AND SECTION 1510-OBSTRUCTION OF CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIONS). IN THIS CASE AND IN CASE OF PENALTY NON-PAYMENT IN A CURRENT OF THREE CALENDAR DAYS FROM THE DATE OF THIS NOTIFICATION, THE TOTAL AMOUNT OF PENALTY WILL BE TRIPLED AND THE RESPECTIVE FINES WILL BE CHARGED TO THE OUTSTANDING PENALTY. IN CASE OF DISSENT WITH THE INDICTED PROSECUTION, YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO CHALLENGE IT IN COURT.

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This is a part of the notification of a fake FBI virus variant. In this case, the victim is accused of attending forbidden pornographic sites and storing suspicious files on the device. That is why the device is locked. The victim is also required to pay a penalty of $500 within three days because of his illegal actions. The virus further threatens that the victim’s location and photo has been uploaded to the agency’s datacenter, if he disconnects or disposes the device or unlocks the phone independently, more serious punishment will follow. After reading this notification, many victims are driven into extreme panic. Some may therefore rush to pay the unreal penalty as the virus says. As a matter of fact, this is just trick the hackers often play to hurry the victims to make the payment. In the cases of other variants, details of the notification are slightly different, but all of them share the same purpose of making the victims become nervous. So, if your Samsung phones have been hacked by the fake FBI virus, whatever it says in the notification, there is no need for you to become too panic. Instead of attempting to fix the problem by paying the imaginary penalty, you are recommended to turn to an expert in this field to handle it properly.

Screenshots of Variants of the Ransomware

Possible Danger Caused by the Ransomware:

It will take control of your mobile phone or tablet 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 call, text or even access your home screen on the infected device.
It will not let you power off the device or do anything else except for inputting the demand Ukash/Moneypak code.

How Is Your Device Attacked by the Fake FBI Scam Virus? How to Stop it?

There are some most common ways in which a fake FBI scam virus usually distributes itself. So if you can have a closer study of the following knowledge, it is sure that your device will be able to avoid such an infection.
If you have a choice, never install a suspicious app on your device. It is known to many people that the freeware or shareware programs are the most common methods taken advantage by the hackers to spread a malicious program or all kinds of viruses.
Secondly, do not use your device to visit porn or gambling websites. According many victims of the fake FBI scam infection, their device is exposed to a porn site before the virus is found on the system. So it is believed that to stay away from the pornographic or gambling websites will help prevent the virus from infecting your device.
Finally, never open a spam email and download its attachments. Nowadays, many viruses use email to reach the victims. So when you receive an unknown email with a suspicious attachment, not be so curious as to open it and let the virus attached sneak into your system.

How to Remove the Message of FBI Scam Virus?

Once your phone or tablet is blocked by the FBI prism scam, you will have no access to its home screen. Thus, you need to bypass this FBI prism scam block and then you have the chance to locate the scam on your Android device. Here are some instructions on bypassing this FBI prism scam on your phone or tablet.

Step 1: Restart the safe mode on your infected phone or tablet.

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.

Note: “Safe Mode” on Phone and tablet starts up without loading any third-party add-ons and different devices have different ways to access safe mode.

If you have managed to select Safe Mode successfully, you will see the text “Safe Mode” at the bottom left corner of the screen. As the picture shows below:

Step 2: If you can find “Safe Mode” on the left hand corner, that means your phone or tablet is in safe mode already, then you can contact an expert for further ransomware removal instruction.

Note: The ransomware removal guide is so complicated, and it requires sufficent skills. If you are not an Android device repair expert, do not try by yourself. In case you lose your confidential data and photos, an expert is needed during the process of manual removal. Yoocare experts can provide you with the most professional service of the ransomware removal.