I have this lock screen on my phone that says ICE Cyber Crime Center and wants me to pay $500 to unlock my phone. I discovered it is a scam and have been trying to open my phone (HTX One X)in safe mode, but can’t. What should I do? I got a warning from ICE and I was accused by the law. It said that I have done some illegal on my phone and now it locks my phone from use. Is this police warning real or fake? Do I need to worry about that as I don’t know what to do now? I use my computer to go online and do some research about it. Many people talk this stuff as a virus, so, how can I get rid of it from my phone? Please help.

Brief Introduction to This Virus

ICE virus has been created by cyber hackers who want to achieve evil goals from innocent people. At first, this ransomware virus targets on computers with Windows operating systems. It can lock the entire system and won’t let computer users to do anything on the infected machines. Now, with the smart phone has become an important part of people’s daily life, this virus now aims on smart phones with Android systems as well. Once it infiltrates the target Android phone, it can do the same thing on the infected phone like what it can generate on a computer. It can block the phone by showing a picture from ICE and claims the phone user has violated the law for some reason.

Similar Scam Viruses Screenshots on Phone

screenshot_2014-05-09_004Mandiant U.S.A. Cyber Security Virus on Andriod

As a malicious computer threat, this ICE virus can sneak into the target computer through unsafe links and harmful programs that downloaded from the Internet. The ways of this ransomware to invade Android phones are similar. When people are lured to click on some links which contain the materials of this virus, the visiting phone can get the block immediately. In addition, there are many third party applications provided on the Internet, and people need to download different kinds of applications on their smart phones to fulfill different purposes. Cyber criminals can forge the ICE virus into some programs and entice people to download. After people download the fake programs which actually the executable files of the virus and install the corrupted apps into their phones, the block can appear. Once the phone gets blocked, phone user can’t bypass or close the lock screen. The phone can’t even be turned off by using the power button, users have to take out the battery to shut down the infected phones which is a bad way that can harm the phone hardware.

From the picture of the block, people can see that why their phones get locked is that they have done something wrong on the phone which has broken the law. To make the accusation be more real, some authorities’ pictures are adhered. In the block page, it lists the punishment about different crimes that the users have done. In order to get rid of further punishment of being put into prison, people can pay fine to avoid that. The fine can be $100 to $500. To urge people to pay, there is timer on the block page which tells the phone users that they only have 12 or 24 hours to pay the penalty, otherwise, the further punishment can be carried out. However, even though the payment has been made, the ICE virus can still hide in the phone which means there is a still great chance to be locked again. This has been proved by the computer users who encountered this virus on their computers. So, under no circumstance, should phone users pay to this virus.

The Traits of the Infection

-Can lock the phone and won’t let you do anything on it
-Tells you that you must pay for the violation of law by using MoneyPak or some other ways.
-You are charged for doing something illegal, but actually you didn’t.
-Tells you that your activities in this phone have been recorded and your files have been encrypted.
-Your IP address and some basic information are listed on the page.

Finding all or some of these symptoms on your android phone, sorry to say that your phone is infected by ICE virus. Please contact YooSecurity Online Experts for manual removal guide.

Manual Removal Guide to Unlock Your Android Phone from Fake Police Warning (For Literate)

There is a removal guide provided here; however, expertise is required during the process of removal, please make sure you are capable to do it by yourself.

Step 1: Try to access the safe mode on the infected phone.

What is safe mode on an android phone? Just like the safe mode on Windows computers, the safe mode on android phone is a diagnostic mode. It is intended to fix the issues that happen on the problematic phone. In safe mode, the phone will reduce functionality. Typically, the safe mode loads as few executable modules as possible and disable all the non-core components to run. In one word, safe mode only runs the system without the third-party software.

How to get the safe mode on an android phone?

There are too many brands of android phones in the world, so the way to get the safe mode can be various. We will only take a group of them as examples, if you can’t follow the tips to get the same mode on your phone, please go online to find the right way to access the safe mode as the safe mode is premise to remove this infection from your phone.

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.

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

Conclusion:

When you got a warning message from ICE, please don’t be taken it. It has nothing to do with this organization. It is a ransomware that can attack computers and smart phones with Android systems now. Cyber hackers use the authority to threaten people and cheat them to pay amount of money to avoid punishment from the police. Actually, people who suffer from this thing should stay calm and figure out the reality of this stuff first.

Suggestion: To follow removal guide to get out of ICE virus that mentioned above, a quite level of phone knowledge is needed. Otherwise, the wrong operating on the safe mode can make the situation even worse. Please make sure you are capable of dealing with this. If not, please Contact online experts for help now!

Published by Tony Shepherd & last updated on March 20, 2015 8:36 am

Leave a Reply