If your computer appears to be taken hostage by local police who demand the payment of a fine to grant you access to your data, would you pay the fee, yank the power cord or recognise a scam and figure out how to neutralise it?

Malicious software that demands payment for the return of access to personal or financial data, known as “ransomware”, has been around in various forms for over a decade, but this year police-themed ransomware has emerged as the scam du jour for online con artists and there is evidence they are ramping up activity in Australia significantly.

"Ransomware" has been customised to scare Australians.

The simple con exploits victims' lack of knowledge about online surveillance, enforcement and the law. Victims are told police have detected crimes ranging from copyright infringement to viewing child abuse material and are generally asked to pay a fine of about $100 in the local currency within 72 hours via prepaid services such as UKash, a UK-based voucher payments service.

Have you been affected by police-themed ransomware? Email us