Privex Defender

How do they do this?

More specifically, I am wondering how a spammer got this message onto my iPhone.

I was sitting there reading the news on one of my news applications. I forget now which one. It was likely one of the big newspapers. I would not expect any Internet insecurity from this organization (whichever one it was.)

Suddenly a pop-up window appeared in front of the news window that I was reading. It bore the logo of Google and warned me that I had five minutes to download some unidentified app from the App Store or else 37 viruses that I had allegedly got from "adult sites" would wipe out all my contacts.

I examined the window and found the name "Privex Defender" in it. A web search reveals that this app is problematic.

My question is technical. How is this scam notice appearing in my phone? It does not appear to be in Safari. It did not appear to be associated with the news app that I was reading. Could it have come through AirDrop? Earlier this month I got some unsought and highly objectionable video that probably came in through AirDrop. I wonder if the bad guys could use AirDrop for scams, too.