[TheForge] heads up

[jerry Frost]

Thanks for the heads up. I don't open much of anything. I don't think
anybody's E-dress book hasn't been hacked and sold. I get so much spam my
filter and blocked files are huge but I keep getting the same "must see
offers" from the different E-dresses. Heck, I see posters hung on light,
power, sigh, etc. poles all over offering "make money at home in your spare
time" telemarketing schemes all over the place.

Sorry, I didn't mean to get off on a sidetrack but I really dislike spammers
and cons.

Jer

-----Original Message-----
From: TheForge [mailto:theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of C&J
Allcorn
Sent: Friday, February 6, 2015 5:05 AM
To: theforge at mailman.qth.net
Cc: theforge-owner at mailman.qth.net; jallcorn at suddenlink.net
Subject: [TheForge] heads up

I am on TheForge mailing list, the following may be applicable to you.
JA

Ok folks, heads up, this is NOT  a joke (wish it were) we were hit by the
RESTORE virus yesterday there is a chance it harvested our email list and
will send you an email, supposedly from us, and want you to click on a link.
I mostly send jokes and links to FLIXXY videos, etc.  they are from a
reputable source.
Bottom line, when in DOUBT...DELETE...DON'T CLICK!!!

We rec'd an email from something with a link starting as "pf_" something and
Cindy clicked on it thinking it was from a particular showroom that she
might be interested in WRONG!
it wasn't.

It was a RECOVER virus.

What it does (and there are several like it), it encripts much (not all) of
the data on your hard disk and any attached drives (thumb or USB
drives) including backup hard drives.  It does this by giving these files an
additional file extension.  So something like "Your_letter.docx" becomes
"Your_letter.docx.alvbrix" or something similar.

Bottom line, your word program won't open the file because it doesn't know
the format.  It also affects Excel, Word, PDF and photos, and who knows what
else.

Then the program you downloaded inadvertently sends you a message to click
on a certain link, paste in a series of codes and send them a $$$ fee and
supposedly they will UNLOCK and allow you to RECOVER your files.

Whether or not this works is questionable.  So far we have had to delete
some 2000+ files as unusable.  The good news is that AVG stopped and
quarantined the virus, alas not before much havoc...

If you get an email with our name on it, hover your mouse over the name and
see if it tells you the email address attached.  If it does not correspond
to our email, beware. (your email client may work differently)

Apologies in advance
James and Cindy

--
"If you want your prayers answered, get up off your knees and hustle."
Phillip Simmons, 1912-2009.