Computer Virus Hits Here

A virus has infected several computers in this area, locked them up and demanded money to release them.

Dale Bender of Glasgow was a victim recently, and said, “It’s really sick.”

Bender was watching an evangelist on the computer when suddenly the screen showed a picture of a young girl. Then it showed Bender on his own screen, using the webcam mounted on his computer. The hijacked computer screen accused him of watching porn, claimed the FBI locked up the computer and demanded $300 to unlock it.

Bender said he knows of at least three people in Glasgow who have been similarly attacked and he has a relative in Havre who actually paid the ransom with a Green Dot debit card, which is an untraceable transfer.

Of course, the FBI doesn’t work this way. An experienced computer tech should be called to wipe the computer clean.

Bender had his computer cleaned and he taped over the webcam.

“People need to be made aware of this,” Bender said. “They should not pay the money and they need to be really careful with a webcam.”