The Pay us virus belongs to the Chaos ransomware family. A harmful program of such sort encrypts all user’s data on the PC (photos, text files, excel tables, music, videos, etc) and adds its own extension to every file, leaving the read_me.txt files in each folder which contains the encrypted files.
What is Pay us virus?
☝️ A strictly correct description for the Pay us is “a Chaos family ransomware malicious agent”.
Pay us appends its own .pay us extension to the name of every encoded file. For example, an image entitled “photo.jpg” will be renamed to “photo.jpg.pay us”. In the same manner, the Excel sheet named “table.xlsx” will become “table.xlsx.pay us”, and so on.
In every directory with the encoded files, a read_me.txt file will be found. It is a ransom money note. It contains information about the ways of contacting the racketeers and some other remarks. The ransom note usually contains instructions on how to buy the decryption tool from the Pay us developers. That is pretty much the scheme of the malefaction.
Pay us abstract:
| Name | Pay us Virus |
| Ransomware family1 | Chaos ransomware |
| Extension | .pay us |
| Ransomware note | read_me.txt |
| Ransom | $1500 |
| Detection | Win32/Packed.BlackMoon.A suspicious, BScope.TrojanDownloader.Deyma, Mal/Kryptik-BX |
| Symptoms | Your files (photos, videos, documents) have a .pay us extension and you can’t open them. |
| Fix Tool | See If Your System Has Been Affected by Pay us virus |
The read_me.txt file coming in package with the Pay us ransomware provides the following dispiriting information:
All of your files have been encrypted Your computer was infected with a ransomware virus. 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 $1,500. 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: 0.1473766 BTC Bitcoin Address: bc1qw0ll8p9m8uezhqhyd7z459ajrk722yn8c5j4fg
In the image below, you can see what a directory with files encrypted by the Pay us looks like. Each filename has the “.pay us” extension added to it.
An example of encrypted .pay us files.
How did my computer get infected with Pay us ransomware?
There are many possible ways of ransomware injection.
There are currently three most exploited ways for hackers to have the Pay us virus working in your digital environment. These are email spam, Trojan injection and peer networks.
If you access your inbox and see letters that look just like notifications from utility services providers, delivery agencies like FedEx, Internet providers, and whatnot, but whose addresser is unknown to you, beware of opening those letters. They are very likely to have a malicious file enclosed in them. So it is even riskier to download any attachments that come with emails like these.
Another thing the hackers might try is a Trojan file scheme2. A Trojan is a program that infiltrates into your computer disguised as something legal. For example, 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 corrupts your data. As the update file 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 trust the software developers’ official websites.
As for the peer-to-peer file transfer protocols like BitTorrent or eMule, the threat is that they are even more trust-based than the rest of the Internet. You can never guess what you download until you get it. So you’d better be using trustworthy websites. Also, it is reasonable to scan the folder containing the downloaded items with the antivirus as soon as the downloading is finished.
How do I get rid of the Pay us virus?
It is crucial to note that besides encrypting your files, the Pay us virus will most likely deploy the Azorult Spyware on your machine to get access to credentials to different accounts (including cryptocurrency wallets). The mentioned program can extract your logins and passwords from your browser’s auto-filling data.
Sometimes tamperers would unblock several of your files to prove that they really have the decryption program. Since Pay us virus is a relatively new ransomware, security software developers have not yet found a way to undo its work. However, the anti-ransomware instruments are frequently updated, so the effective countermeasure may soon arrive.
Understandably, if the hackers do the job of encrypting victim’s essential data, the desperate person will probably comply with their demands. However, paying to criminals does not necessarily mean that you’re getting your data back. It is still risky. After getting the money, the racketeers may send a wrong decryption key to the victim. There were reports about malefactors simply disappearing after getting the money without even bothering to reply.
The best solution against ransomware is to have aan OS restore point or the copies of your essential files in the cloud drive or at least on an external storage. Surely, that might be not enough. Your most important thing could be that one you were working upon when it all started. Nevertheless, it is something. It is also reasonable to scan your PC for viruses with the anti-malware utility after the system restoration.
There are other ransomware products, besides Pay us, that work similarly. For instance, Oflg, Ofww, Towz, and some others. The two major differences between them and the Pay us are the ransom amount and the method of encryption. The rest is the same: documents become blocked, their extensions changed, ransom notes are found in each folder containing encrypted files.
Some fortunate victims were able to decrypt the blocked files with the aid of the free software provided by anti-ransomware experts. Sometimes the hackers mistakenly send the decryption code to the wronged in the ransom readme. Such an extraordinary fail allows the injured part to restore the files. But obviously, one should never expect such a chance. Make no mistake, ransomware is a tamperers’ technology to pull the money out of their victims.
How do I avert ransomware attack?
Pay us ransomware doesn’t have a endless power, so as any similar malware.
You can protect your PC from ransomware injection within 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 expecting (can you win in a money prize draw without participating in it?). If the email subject is more or less something you are waiting for, scrutinize all elements of the dubious letter with caution. A hoax email will always have mistakes.
- Never use cracked or untrusted software. Trojan viruses are often distributed as a part of cracked software, possibly as a “patch” which prevents the license check. But dubious programs are difficult to tell from reliable software, because trojans sometimes have the functionality you seek. Try to find information on this software product on the anti-malware message boards, but the optimal solution is not to use such software.
- And to be sure about the safety of the objects you downloaded, check them with GridinSoft Anti-Malware. This software will be a perfect armor for your system.
Reasons why I would recommend GridinSoft3
There is no better way to recognize, remove and prevent ransomware than to use an anti-malware software from GridinSoft4.
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 PC.
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 Pay us 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.
FAQ
🤔 How can I open “.pay us” files?Is it possible to open“.pay us” files?
There’s no way to do it, unless the files “.pay us” files are decrypted.
🤔 The encrypted files are very important to me. How can I decrypt them quickly?
It’s good if you have fаr-sightedly saved copies of these important files elsewhere. Otherwise, you might try to employ System Restore. The only question is whether you have saved any Restore Points that would be helpful now. There are other ways to beat ransomware, but they take time.
🤔 Will GridinSoft Anti-Malware remove all the encrypted files alongside the Pay us virus?
Absolutely not! Your encrypted files are no threat to your PC.
With the help of GridinSoft Anti-Malware, you can clean your computer off the actual viruses. The virus that has attacked your PC is probably still functional and launching checks from time to time to arrest any new files you might create on your PC after the attack. As it has been said above, the Pay us malware does not come alone. It installs backdoors and keyloggers that can steal your account credentials and provide malefactors with easy access to your computer in the future.
🤔 What actions should I take if the Pay us malware has blocked my computer and I can’t get the activation code.
In such a case, you need to prepare a memory stick with a pre-installed Trojan Killer. Use Safe Mode to perform the procedure. The point is that the ransomware starts automatically as the system boots and encrypts any new files created or brought into your system. To block this process – use Safe Mode, which allows only the essential programs to run upon system boot. Consider reading our manual on booting Windows in Safe Mode.
🤔 What can I do right now?
Many of the blocked files might still be within your reach
- If you sent or received your critical files by email, you could still download them from your online mailbox.
- You may have shared photographs or videos with your friends or family members. Simply ask them to post those pictures back to you.
- If you have initially downloaded any of your files from the Internet, you can try downloading them again.
- Your messengers, social networks pages, and cloud drives might have all those files too.
- It might be that you still have the needed files on your old computer, a portable device, phone, memory stick, etc.
USEFUL TIP: You can employ file recovery utilities5 to retrieve your lost information since ransomware blocks the copies of your files, removing the authentic ones. In the tutorial below, you can see how to recover your files with PhotoRec, but be advised: you can do it only after you eradicate the ransomware itself with an anti-malware program.
Also, you can contact the following official 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.
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Brendan SmithHow to Remove PAY US Ransomware & Recover PC
Name: PAY US Virus
Description: PAY US Virus is a ransomware-type infections. This virus encrypts important personal files (video, photos, documents). The encrypted files can be tracked by a specific .pay us extension. So, you can't use them at all.
Operating System: Windows
Application Category: Virus
User Review
( votes)References
- My files are encrypted by ransomware, what should I do now?
- You can read more on Trojans, their use and types in the Trojan-dedicated section of GridinSoft official website.
- GridinSoft Anti-Malware Review from HowToFix site: https://howtofix.guide/gridinsoft-anti-malware/
- More information about GridinSoft products: https://gridinsoft.com/comparison
- Here’s the list of Top 10 Data Recovery Software Of 2023.
