I'm kind amazed at the tone deafness of several comments in this thread. I get that as a larger effect, reducing the success rate of scammers hurts their business, but if I'm dealing with someone who's been hit because they weren't adequately prepared, I'm gonna recommend they pay the ransom if they want their stuff back. Because I'm trying to recommend what's best for them. People could be losing their entire family's memories for the last two decades here. (I find for many consumers, photos is their singular valuable on their PC.)
Most of us in this thread ARE adequately prepared with backups, so it's easy to forget that yeah, someone should probably value their family memories over an infinitesimal effect on the scammer business by not paying. A lot of people here seem to suggest lying to or misleading people to believing they can't get their stuff back is a solution, while ignoring that it leaves people... unable to get their stuff back.
Most of us in this thread ARE adequately prepared with backups, so it's easy to forget that yeah, someone should probably value their family memories over an infinitesimal effect on the scammer business by not paying. A lot of people here seem to suggest lying to or misleading people to believing they can't get their stuff back is a solution, while ignoring that it leaves people... unable to get their stuff back.