Not the first time

We've seen this tactic before. Back in 2006 we saw a Trojan that encrypted the contents of My Documents and then dropped a file that had "instructions" on how to get your stuff back. It usually involved sending money or buying stuff from a CanPharm page. Here's the post if you are interested: http://www.sophos.com/pressoffice/news/articles/2006/06/arhiveus.html

and here's the money tactic: http://www.sophos.com/pressoffice/news/articles/2006/03/zippo.html

What these scammers won't do for money.

It's normally a good idea...

...to be familiar with at least one legitimate resource when it comes to things like these, I have my go-to guys online, they're tried and tested and have saved my backside more than once over the years, I'd go directly to their URL in a case like this.