I had a ransomware attack about a year ago. It came from clicking on an insanely cute ad for animal pics. Now, I never click on *sponsored* links. I use AdBlockPlus and don’t see the ads.
I paid via credit card. When the bill came, the vendor was in China. I contested the payment, told them what had happened and that I was the victim of a cybermugging. They reversed the charges.
I added MalwareBytes after my husband cleaned my entire system and reinstalled everything. After this, I kept receiving “tech support” phone calls and emails, I guess so they could recoup their losses. I don’t answer or if I do, hang up when I identify them (by the Indian accents). I delete all spam without even looking at it.
A friend got ransomware literally out of nowhere. She had a browser window open, was in the work area of her office computer and out of nowhere, the thing froze, alarms, etc. She unplugged and took it in for repair. Most of her files were not recoverable.
These things lurk all over the Internet.
I just act horrified that my computer is compromised and whatever shall I do???
String them along as long as I can before saying, oh wait, I have a Mac!!! Go to perdition and stop trying to scare little old ladies and gullible youths out of their stuff!
Last time I did this my kid was in stitches listening to my half of the conversation.
The big thing is string them along, waste the one resource they can't replace, their time.
They don't call me anymore *sniff*
Linux has far fewer problems with viruses and you can get security updates every few days, if you want.
If you want to try something similar that is easy to get going, download a DVD image of Knoppix and burn that to disk. You then boot from the DVR and don't need to worry about any installation, because it interactively installs every time it's booted on its own. You will need to configure your network card if it's not wired, though.
Trying that out made me next install Linux Mint in a dual-boot mode. By the way, Linux Mint will configure and install almost all on its own, even setting aside a portion of your available free hard drive space, based on your preferences.