A new white paper from Symantec discusses the increase of ‘ransomware’ in North America. Ransomware is malware that – once installed on a user’s computer – prevents normal operation and presents the user with warnings that appear to be from regional law enforcement organizations. The warnings threaten further legal action if the user fails to pay a fine. The warnings look sufficiently legitimate to fool many users, who then pay the ‘fine’.

If you start seeing one of these warnings on your computer, do not pay the ‘fine’. Instead, have the malware removed from your computer by a knowledgeable technician.

More details from ARS Technica.