The well-known police virus is a ransomware-type threat that affects all types of PCs, whether Windows or Mac. Surely you've ever heard of it, right? Currently, although it still affects desktop computers, the developers of this "bug" have decided to focus all their efforts on infecting mobile devices, which has caused the police virus to be seen more and more frequently on smartphones and tablets.
If you have witnessed their doggies, you surely know how it works. You start your device and see how a window opens indicating that you have committed a crime from that team, usually related to child pornography, zoophilia or the like. If you try to open your browser, you can't do anything either, since the same message pops up over and over again, making any normalized use of your browser impossible.
To solve the problem, this scam suggests you pay a certain sum of money, in order to cancel the report and avoid further problems. Many people unfortunately end up giving in to this deception and end up paying.
This is the famous police virus. Image: Internet User Security OfficeIf we want to eliminate the police virus on our Android Smartphone, we must do the following:
Step 1: Restart the phone in safe mode. The method to restart in safe mode varies depending on the manufacturer, so first of all find out how to restart your device in safe mode. Some methods are:
- Restart the phone and press the volume down button for a while.
- Press the shutdown button, and in the exit menu press "Restart" for a while until the option to restart in safe mode appears.
Step 2: Once we are in safe mode, we go to "Settings-> Application manager" and look for the latest application that you have installed on the mobile. Uninstall it. Most likely, the police virus has settled on your phone through some harmless app. It does not matter that this application is not called "Police virus", it is there camouflaged as another app.
What if this doesn't fix the problem?
In this case, we can only restore our Smartphone to the factory state. We will lose all data, so if you still have time, make a backup of your photos and files on another device.
To reset a phone to factory state, turn off the phone and when starting it, press the power button while pressing the + or - volume button (the button to press may vary depending on the manufacturer) for several seconds. We will enter Recovery mode. From here we can select the option "Wipe data"Or"Factory reset”To erase all data from the phone and leave our device as if we had just bought it.
How can I fix this problem on my iPhone?
Elimination of this annoying virus is easier on Apple phones. Just enter Safari and go toSettings -> Safari -> Clear history and website data. If our browser is Chrome we will do the same operation from Settings -> Privacy -> Clear browsing data -> Clear all.
As you can see, we can get rid of this virus in a relatively simple way, but if you have been affected and you cannot eliminate it with the indicated guidelines, do not hesitate to leave a comment and I will try to give you a hand. If you want to know more about the police virus, I recommend the following link from the Internet User Security Office.
Ah! And if you are interested in the whole topic of viruses on Android, do not hesitate to take a look at the post Is it necessary to install antivirus on Android?
