My Mac got infected by a Trojan

anaellebv wrote:

Apple said they technically cannot let malwares into our laptops, I’m confused.

If you deliberately download a sketchy app and deliberately install it, what is the anti-malware to assume about that app, and to assume about your intentions with that app?

And a “cracked” app may well request access permissions that the normal app also requests, but who knows what the cracked app does with that access?

My friend who recommended me the website told me it was normal and that she got the tab too, she’s completely fine tho?

Are you asking me if I’d swap USB devices with your friend? 🤪

Website ads claiming virus infections are endemic, and false. Websites cannot perform a malware detection scan your computer storage. That’d be a catastrophe. Of course the messages—the advertisements, because that’s what these are—do include the word “virus”, which can cloud the thinking of or can outright panic some number of users. Panicked users then tend to do things against their own best interests. Such as downloading a sketchy “security” app. Which does who-knows-what. Which is what the advertisers want.

Scam Pop-ups, Scam Viruses, Scam Receipts… - Apple Community

You might well have already loaded malware onto your Mac though, as that’s one of the principle uses of sites offering sketchy “free” content.

The website maintainers are not really interested in the “free” content, they use that content as a lure to interest the marks.

The marks here are the people that will load that content and will load the “cracked” apps and such.

It’s those marks that load those “cracked” apps and tools that are profitable for the website maintainers, and the marks tend to get scammed, data and passwords and access uploaded, might get blackmailed, and generally regretting the “free deals” that the marks thought they were getting. For a while there, getting infested with cryptocurrency miners was another potential outcome, too.

What, you thought the app providers and the content providers and the authors were the only ones getting ripped off here?

No, it is not real. But, if you continue to attempt to obtain media content for free that normally cost money, you will see many more bogus messages, as the criminals try to sell you something.

You are welcome. For future reference, read through the Apple article below.

Recognize and avoid phishing messages, phony support calls, and other scams - Apple Support

Yea, and you are completely fine too. The message was a scam, trying to trick you into downloading some garbage, unneeded app. Do not be a victim to their scams.

You are welcome.

Stay alert for other possible scam messages.

The key thing to remember is that such messages you may see, will always be a scam. Never download anything based on such messages.