People who watch porn receiving a warning pop-up? Do not pay, it is a scam
India Today
Scammers have long tried to scare victims into paying up online by sharing warning messages under the impression of a government agency. A classic one uses the disguise of the Ministry of Law and Justice and asks users to pay the penalty to unlock their computer and drop criminal charges.
Online scammers are back at their devious practices, but an old trick has resurfaced on the internet this time. In a recent tweet, a user highlighted how fake pop-ups plague some portions of the internet and warned visitors that their "browser has been locked" for watching pornography. The pop-ups then ask the users for money in exchange for unlocking the browser.
Recent screenshots of the scam have been shared by Internet security researcher Rajshekhar Rajaharia on Twitter. The screenshots show a fishy URL resulting in a full-page pop-up window on the browser Chrome. The window appears to be from the Ministry of Law and Justice and boldly states that the victim's computer "has been blocked" under decree number - 173-279.
The pop-up further warns that the browser has been locked for the "viewing and dissemination of materials forbidden by the law of India." It names these forbidden materials as pornography linked with paedophilia, rape and zoophilia. It then goes on to ask for a sum of Rs 29,000 as the penalty for unlocking the victim's computer.
There is yet another way that the scam tries to dupe people into paying up. The pop-up reads that the case materials will be transferred to the ministry for criminal proceedings if the person fails to pay up. The pop-up then mentions a time of 6 hours for the person to pay the fine. For the payment right through the page itself, it even carries a Payment Details section where users can pay through Visa or MasterCard. The pop-up promises that the browser will be unlocked as soon as the payment is made.
Needless to say, the pop-up and the information shared though it is completely bogus and is only meant to scare victims into paying the scammers some money. So, do not heed to its demands in case you see one on your browser.
Note that this is not a new type of scam. In fact, a similar scam has been seen even within India. Back in July last year, such targeted attempts online tried to fool people out of Rs 3,000 by scaring them through the same warning - a penalty for watching porn. A gang was then caught running this scam from Tamil Nadu.
Such fake warnings from the department of law and justice have been in circulation since the early 2010s in countries like the US. Before fake URLs and website pop-ups, these scams worked through computer viruses that took over a system and asked the victims to pay the penalty for unlocking their computers. In a classic fashion, they also warned the user that their system activities had been recorded and would be sent to the FBI if they failed to pay up.
