“The your computer has been locked” is a virus that has been introduced on your computer.

The computer can be infected by several means — malicious websites, or legitimate websites that have been hacked, or spam email containing infected attachments or links to malicious websites.

This virus can infect your computer by using vulnerabilities on your computer to install this Trojan without your permission of knowledge.

The threat may also be downloaded manually by tricking the user into thinking they are installing a useful piece of software, for instance a bogus update for Adobe Flash Player or another piece of software.

Once installed on your computer, the virus will display a bogus notification that pretends to be from an official law enforcement agency — U.S Department of Justice or Department of Homeland Security — and states that your computer has been blocked due to it being involved with the distribution of pornographic material, SPAM and copyrighted content.

The virus will lock you out of your computer whenever you’ll try to log on into your Windows operating system and will display a lock screen asking you to pay a non-existent fine in the form of a Green Dot Card Money Card.

No one has been taken by the Green Dot scam, Captain Chuck Hasty said, but it has locked computers.

The virus can make this alert seem more authentic as it can gain to access to your webcam, so that the bogus “Your computer has been locked” notification shows what is happening in the room.

The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center suggests the following if you become a victim of the virus: • Do not pay any money or provide any personal information.

• Contact a computer professional to remove virus from your computer.

• Be aware that even if you are able to unfreeze your computer on your own, the malware may still operate in the background.

Certain types of malware have been known to capture personal information such as user names, passwords, and credit card numbers through embedded keystroke logging programs.

• File a complaint and look for updates about the virus on the IC3 website. “No law enforcement agency will ask you to pay any money to them by way of any type of money card nor do they conduct investigations in that manner,” Sheriff Jack Smith said in a statement. “Our citizens need to be aware of this type of fraud going happening on the internet.” People can learn more about the different scams that are going on by going to the North Carolina Attorney General’s website or the FBI website.