Police Central E-Crime Unit virus. How to remove PCEU scam

Do you think your computer has been locked by Police Central E-crime Unit? Well, this is not so. PCEU of the UK’s Metropolitan Police is not in the position to lock computers. It uses other methods of chastising. It surely can punish the violators of the UK’s law, but blocking computer is not its practice. What does this warning from PCEU mean? The truth we know about this problem is that this is the virus that is classified as ransomware in many security blogs. It is called ransomware because when it locks the computer it asks for the ransom to be paid in favor of the crooks that developed it.

Once the PCEU virus locks the computer user cannot really do anything with it to use the computer in a normal manner. The scary warning remains at the desktop, instead of the common desktop background. The fake PCEU warning message accuses users of performing the following crimes online through application of the infected computer:

Your Computer has been locked You have broken the law, your actions are illegal and will lead to criminal liability. The work of your computer has been suspended on the grounds of unauthorized cyber activity. Possible violations are described below: Article - 174. Copyright Imprisonment for the term of up to 2-5 years (The use or sharing of copyrighted files). A fine from 18,000 up to 23,000 GBP. Article - 183. Pornography Imprisonment for the term of up to 2-3 years (The use or distribution of pornographic files). A fine from 18,000 up to 25,000 GBP. Article - 184. Pornography involving children (under 18 years) Imprisonment for the term of up to 10-15 years (The use or distribution of pornographic files). A fine from 20,000 up to 40,000 GBP. Article - 104. Promoting Terrorism Imprisonment for the term of up to 25 years without appeal (Visiting the websites of terrorist groups). A fine from 35,000 up to 45,000 GBP with property confiscation. Article - 68. The distribution of virus programs Imprisonment for the term of up to 2 years (The development or distribution of virus programs, which have caused harm to other computers). A fine from 15,000 up to 28,000 GBP. Article - 113. The use of unlicensed software Imprisonment for the term of up to 2 years (The use of unlicensed software). A fine from 10,000 up to 22,000 GBP. Article - 99. Cheating with payment cards, carding Imprisonment for the term of up to 5 years (The operation with the use of payment card or its details which was not initiated or not confirmed by the holder). A fine from 30,000 up to 75,000 GBP with property confiscation. Article - 156. Spamming pornographic content Imprisonment for the term of up to 2 years (Spamming pornographic content by means of e-mail or social Networks). A fine from 16,000 up to 38,000 GBP.

Without any hesitation, receiving such a scary message supposedly from the PCEU is a horrifying event. You should at the same time understand that it has nothing to do with the UK’s Metropolitan Police. Hackers are the sole authors of this scam, and they bear full responsibility for the damage caused to you and your system. Even though there’s a way how your system can be effectively unlocked and this scary warning removed from your computer. Please follow the guidelines provided below that show various methods of PCEU ransomware removal.

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Removal steps:

Important! This tutorial is effective for all GreenDot MoneyPak, Ukash and Paysafecard ransomwares.

1. Restart your system and press F8 while it is restarting.
2. Select Safe Mode with Networking.

3. Press Start menu and choose Run, or press [Win]+R hotkey combination on keyboard.

4. Type msconfig

5. Disable all startup items rundll32 that launch any application from Application Data.
6. Reboot your system once again.
7. Scan your computer with GridinSoft Trojan Killer immediately to identify the infected file and delete it.

Important! Certain versions of these viruses disable all safe modes, but give a short gap that you can use to run antivirus tools. If this is the case, do following:

1. Restart normally.
2. Click Start and select Run.
3. Enter the text specified in the quotation below. If malware is loaded, just press Alt+Tab once and keep entering the string blindly; then press Enter.

http://trojan-killer.net/download.php

4. Press Alt+tab and then R (letter) a couple of times. The process of ransomware virus should be killed after you succeed to download, install our recommended software and scan your system with it.

Recommended software for DOJ (Department of Justice) virus removal:

Alternative automatic removal solution:

1. Go to your friend, relative or anybody else who has computer with Internet connection.
2. Take your USB flash drive / Memory Stick with you.
3. Download GridinSoft Trojan Killer installation file from this site http://trojan-killer.net/download.php and save it to your USB flash drive / Memory Stick.
4. Get back to your infected PC and insert the USB Drive / Memory Stick into the respective USB slot.
5. Perform hard reset (press reset button on your computer) if your infected PC has been on with ransomware's background. If not, then simply turn your PC on.
6. Before the very boot process begins keep repeatedly hitting “F8” button on your keyboard.
7. In the window that appeared select “Safe mode with command prompt” option and press Enter.

8. Choose your operating system and user account which was infected with ransomware virus.
9. In the cmd.exe window type “explorer” and press “Enter” button on your keyboard.
10. Select “My Computer” and choose your USB flash drive / Memory Stick.
11. Run the installation file of GridinSoft Trojan Killer. Install the program and run scan with it. (update of the program will not work for “Safe mode with command prompt” option)
12. When the hijackers are successfully disabled (fixed) by GridinSoft Trojan Killer you may close GridinSoft Trojan Killer application.
13. In the cmd.exe window type “shutdown /r /t 0” and press “Enter” button on your keyboard.
14. Upon system reboot your PC will be unlocked and you will be able to use it just as before the infection took pace.
15. However, it is recommended that you now update GridinSoft Trojan Killer and run the scan with it again to remove the source of the infections causing ransomware virus to infect your PC.

Similar automatic removal video:

Alternative manual removal milestones (optional and might not be effective):

1. Restart your system into "Safe Mode with Command Prompt". While the PC is booting press the "F8 key" continuously, which should present the "Windows Advanced Options Menu" as presented in the image below. Apply the arrow keys in order to move to "Safe Mode with Command Prompt" and hit Enter key of your keyboard. Login as the same user you were previously logged in under the normal Windows mode.
2. Once Windows boots successfully, the Windows command prompt would appear as described at the screenshot below. At the command prompt, type-in the word "explorer", and press Enter. Windows Explorer should open. Please do not yet close it. You can minimize it for a while.
3. Afterwards open the Registry editor by applying the same Windows command prompt. Type-in the word "regedit" and hit Enter button of your keyboard. The Registry Editor should open.
4. Find the following registry entry:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\
5. In the right-side panel select the registry entry named Shell. Right click on this registry key and select "Modify" option. Its default value should be "Explorer.exe". However, ransomware virus did its job, and so after you click "Modify" you would see totally different value of this registry entry.
6. Copy the location of the modified value of the above-mentioned registry entry to the piece of paper or memorize its location. It shows where exactly the main executable of ransomware virus is located.
7. Modify the value of the registry entry back to "explorer.exe" and save the settings of the Registry Editor.
8. Go to the location indicated in the value of modified registry entry. Remove the malicous file. Use the file location you copied into the piece of paper or otherwise noted in step in previous step.
9. Get back to "Normal Mode". In order to reboot your PC, when at the command prompt, type-in the following phrase "shutdown /r /t 0" (without the quotation marks) and hit Enter button.
10. The virus should be gone. However, in order to clean your PC from other possible virus threats and malware remnants, make sure to download and run GridinSoft Trojan Killer downloadable through the button below.

Similar manual removal video:

Associated virus files to be removed:

[random].exe

Associated virus registry entries to be removed:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\"Shell" = "[random].exe"