LMAO Ransomware 🔐 (.LMAO File) Virus Removal Guide

The Lmao virus falls within the Chaos ransomware family. A harmful program of this type encrypts all the data on your computer (images, documents, excel tables, music, videos, etc) and adds its own extension to every file, creating the read_it.txt text files in every directory with the encrypted files.

It is better to prevent, than repair and repent!

When we talk about the intrusion of unfamiliar programs into your computer’s work, the proverb “Forewarned is forearmed” describes the situation as accurately as possible. Gridinsoft Anti-Malware is exactly the tool that is always useful to have in your armory: fast, efficient, up-to-date. It is appropriate to use it as an emergency help at the slightest suspicion of infection.

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What is known about the Lmaovirus?

☝️ A strictly accurate description for the Lmao is “a Chaos family ransomware-type infection”.

Lmao adds its extra .LMAO extension to the title of every encrypted file. For example, an image entitled “photo.jpg” will be altered to “photo.jpg.LMAO”. Just like the Excel table with the name “table.xlsx” will become “table.xlsx.LMAO”, and so on.

In each folder containing the encoded files, a read_it.txt text file will appear. It is a ransom money note. It contains information on the ways of contacting the racketeers and some other remarks. The ransom note most probably contains instructions on how to purchase the decryption tool from the ransomware developers. That is it.

Lmao abstract:

The read_it.txt file accompanying the Lmao ransomware states the following:

Your computer has been f*cked by the LMAO ransomware, Your files have been encrypted and you won\'t
be able to decrypt them without our help.What can I do to get my files back?You can buy our special
decryption software, this software will allow you to recover all of your data and remove the
ransomware from your computer, The price for the software is $800, Payment can be made in Bitcoin only.
How do I pay, where do I get Bitcoin?
Purchasing Bitcoin varies from country to country, you are best advised to do a quick google search
yourself  to find out how to buy Bitcoin.
Many of our customers have reported these sites to be fast and reliable:
Coinmama - hxxps://www.coinmama.com Bitpanda - hxxps://www.bitpanda.com


Payment informationAmount: 0.02901543 BTC
Bitcoin Address:  bc17CqMQFeuB3NTzJ2X28tfRmWaPyPQgvoHV07k9qjzsjf

In the picture below, you can see what a directory with files encrypted by the Lmao looks like. Each filename has the “.LMAO” extension added to it.

That is how encrypted “.LMAO” files look.

How did Lmao ransomware end up on my PC?

There are many possible ways of ransomware infiltration.

There are currently three most popular ways for hackers to have ransomware working in your system. These are email spam, Trojan infiltration and peer file transfer.

If you access your inbox and see emails that look like familiar notifications from utility services providers, postal agencies like FedEx, Internet providers, and whatnot, but whose sender is unknown to you, be wary of opening those emails. They are most likely to have a ransomware file attached to them. So it is even riskier to download any attachments that come with emails like these.

Another option for ransom hunters is a Trojan horse model. A Trojan is a program that gets into your machine pretending to be something else. For instance, you download an installer for some program you need or an update for some software. However, what is unboxed turns out to be a harmful agent that compromises your data. Since the installation package can have any title and any icon, you’d better be sure that you can trust the source of the stuff you’re downloading. The best thing is to use the software companies’ official websites.

As for the peer file transfer protocols like torrent trackers or eMule, the threat is that they are even more trust-based than the rest of the Web. You can never guess what you download until you get it. So you’d better be using trustworthy resources. Also, it is a good idea to scan the folder containing the downloaded objects with the antivirus as soon as the downloading is finished.

How do I get rid of the Lmao virus?

It is important to note that besides encrypting your data, the Lmao virus will probably deploy Vidar Stealer on your machine to get access to credentials to different accounts (including cryptocurrency wallets). That program can extract your credentials from your browser’s auto-filling data.

Often racketeers would decode several of your files to prove that they indeed have the decryption tool. As Lmao virus is a relatively recent ransomware, anti-malware developers have not yet found a method to undo its work. However, the anti-ransomware instruments are frequently updated, so the solution may soon arrive.

Of course, if the hackers succeed in encoding someone’s essential files, the hopeless person will probably fulfill their demands. Despite that, paying a ransom gives no guarantee that you’re getting your files back. It is still risky. After obtaining the ransom, the racketeers may send a wrong decryption code to the injured party. There were reports of racketeers simply disappearing after getting the money without even bothering to reply.

The optimal countermeasure to ransomware is to have a system restore point or the copies of your critical files in the cloud disk or at least on an external storage. Surely, that might be insufficient. Your most crucial thing could be that one you were working on when it all went down. Nevertheless, it is something. It is also reasonable to scan your PC for viruses with the antivirus program after the system is rolled back.

There are other ransomware products, besides Lmao, that work similarly. Examples of those are Neon, Neqp, Xaro, and some others. The two basic differences between them and the Lmao are the ransom amount and the method of encryption. The rest is the same: files become blocked, their extensions changed, ransom notes are found in every folder containing encrypted files.

Some lucky people were able to decrypt the blocked files with the aid of the free software provided by anti-ransomware developers. Sometimes the hackers accidentally send the decryption key to the wronged in the ransom readme. Such an epic fail allows the victim to restore the files. But of course, one should never rely on such a chance. Make no mistake, ransomware is a bandits’ technology to lay their hands on the money of their victims.

How to avoid ransomware attack?

Lmao ransomware has no superpower, neither does any similar malware.

You can armour your system from its injection in several easy steps:

• Never open any emails from unknown senders with unknown addresses, or with content that has likely no connection to something you are waiting for (can you win in a lottery without even taking part in it?). If the email subject is likely something you are waiting for, check all elements of the dubious letter with caution. A hoax email will always have a mistake.
• Never use cracked or untrusted software. Trojan viruses are often distributed as an element of cracked software, most likely under the guise of “patch” preventing the license check. But dubious programs are very hard to distinguish from trustworthy ones, because trojans sometimes have the functionality you need. You can try searching for information about this program on the anti-malware message boards, but the best solution is not to use such programs at all.
• And finally, to be sure about the safety of the files you downloaded, scan them with GridinSoft Anti-Malware. This software will be a powerful armor for your system.

Reasons why I would recommend GridinSoft²

There is no better way to recognize, remove and prevent ransomware than to use an anti-malware software from GridinSoft³.

Download Removal Tool.

You can download GridinSoft Anti-Malware by clicking the button below:

Run the setup file.

When setup file has finished downloading, double-click on the setup-antimalware-fix.exe file to install GridinSoft Anti-Malware on your system.

An User Account Control asking you about to allow GridinSoft Anti-Malware to make changes to your device. So, you should click “Yes” to continue with the installation.

Press “Install” button.

Once installed, Anti-Malware will automatically run.

Wait for the Anti-Malware scan to complete.

GridinSoft Anti-Malware will automatically start scanning your PC for Lmao infections and other malicious programs. This process can take a 20-30 minutes, so I suggest you periodically check on the status of the scan process.

Click on “Clean Now”.

When the scan has completed, you will see the list of infections that GridinSoft Anti-Malware has detected. To remove them click on the “Clean Now” button in right corner.

Frequently Asked Questions

🤔 How can I open “.LMAO” files?Is it possible to open“.LMAO” files?

Negative. That is why ransomware is so frustrating. Until you decode the “.LMAO” files you will not be able to access them.

🤔 What should I do to make my files accessible as fast as possible?

If the “.LMAO” files contain some really important information, then you probably have them backed up. In case you haven’t, there is still a chance that you do have a Restore Point from some time ago to roll back the whole system to the moment when it had no virus yet, but already had your files. There are other ways to beat ransomware, but they take time.

🤔 Will GridinSoft Anti-Malware remove all the encrypted files alongside the Lmao virus?

Of course not. Unlike the ransomware program itself, the encrypted files do not jeopardize your system.

GridinSoft Anti-Malware will remove the threats from your PC. The malware that has infected your system is probably still active and launching checks every so often to encrypt any new files you might create on your computer after the attack. As it has been mentioned above, the Lmao ransomware comes with the company. It installs backdoors and keyloggers that can take your account passwords by trespass and provide hackers with easy access to your system in the future.

🤔 What should I do if the Lmao virus has blocked my PC and I can’t get the activation key.

In such an unfortunate situation, you need to have a flash memory drive with a previously installed Trojan Killer. Use Safe Mode to perform the procedure. You see, the ransomware starts automatically as the system boots and encodes any new files created or brought into your PC. To suppress this process – use Safe Mode, which allows only the vital applications to run upon system boot. Consider reading our manual on booting Windows in Safe Mode.

🤔 What can I do right now?

Many of the encrypted files might still be within your reach

• If you exchanged your important files through email, you could still download them from your online mailbox.
• You might have shared photographs or videos with your friends or family members. Just ask them to send those images back to you.
• If you have initially downloaded any of your files from the Internet, you can try to do it again.
• Your messengers, social media pages, and cloud storage might have all those files too.
• It might be that you still have the needed files on your old PC, a portable device, phone, flash memory, etc.

USEFUL TIP: You can use data recovery programs⁴ to retrieve your lost information since ransomware encrypts the copies of your files, deleting the authentic ones. In the tutorial below, you can learn how to use PhotoRec for such a recovery, but be advised: you won’t be able to do it before you remove the virus with an anti-malware program.

Also, you can contact the following governmental fraud and scam sites to report this attack:

• In the United States: On Guard Online;
• In Canada: Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre;
• In the United Kingdom: Action Fraud;
• In Australia: SCAMwatch;
• In New Zealand: Consumer Affairs Scams;
• In France: Agence nationale de la sécurité des systèmes d’information;
• In Germany: Bundesamt für Sicherheit in der Informationstechnik;
• In Ireland: An Garda Síochána;

To report the attack, you can contact local executive boards. For instance, if you live in USA, you can have a talk with FBI Local field office, IC3 or Secret Service.

1. My files are encrypted by ransomware, what should I do now?
2. GridinSoft Anti-Malware Review from HowToFix site: https://howtofix.guide/gridinsoft-anti-malware/
3. More information about GridinSoft products: https://gridinsoft.com/comparison
4. Here’s the list of Top 10 Data Recovery Software Of 2023.