SA student loses work to computer scam

A South Australian student has lost six months of work to a computer scam hitting unusually high numbers of people across the state, police say.

A South Australian student has lost six months' work to a scam which is all but destroying computers across the state.

Ransomware generates emails which appear to be from organisations such as the AFP, but lock computers when clicked and demand money to restore access.

The scam has caught more than 10 people in SA over the past two weeks, making their data almost impossible to recover, police say.