Policia Boliviana Ransomware

While the first Police Ransomware variants appeared Eastern Europe and former Soviet bloc states, this dangerous scam has quickly spread throughout the world. ESG security researchers have observed variants of these Police Ransomware scams in all five continents. Policia Boliviana Ransomware is one of the many police ransomware variants infecting computers in South American countries that started to make their appearance in 2012. Like its European counterparts, the Policia Boliviana Ransomware infection takes over a computer, blocks access to the victim's files and Desktop and then demands payment of a fine by displaying a fake message from the police. Policia Boliviana Ransomware specifically targets computers with an IP address located in the country of Bolivia. Computers with IP addresses corresponding to other geographical locations will be infected with variants using messages aimed at those specific regions.

The Policia Boliviana Ransomware scam is simple to understand. The Policia Boliviana Ransomware Trojan blocks access to all files and components of the victim's computer with a malware infection known as a Winlocker. This infection basically makes changes to the infected computer's settings that prevent the computer user from accessing Safe Mode, the Windows Registry Editor, the Task Manager, Start Menu and other important Windows components. The Policia Boliviana Ransomware displays a full screen message that supposedly comes from the Bolivian Police force. This message accuses the victim of several illegal activities and threatens jail time and huge fines. However, the Policia Boliviana Ransomware message goes on to indicate that it is possible to avoid these harsh punishments if the victim is willing to pay a fine of one hundred dollars. This payment is carried out using a money transfer service like Ukash or MoneyPak.

Despite its message, the Policia Boliviana Ransomware is not associated with the Bolivian police. It is actually distributed by criminals in order to scare non-technical computer users into paying these fines. ESG security analysts strongly advise computer users never to pay the Policia Boliviana Ransomware fine. Making the payment this malware demands will do nothing to unlock your computer and is simply a waste of your money. Instead, ESG security researchers advise using alternate boot methods to bypass the Policia Boliviana Ransomware message in order to gain access to your security application.