iMac login displayed repeating Apple Security video with locked keyboard & mouse

When logging into older iMac (pre-2014) from "sleep" mode the iMac displayed a repeating video (full screen) claiming to be Apple Security stating my computer had been hacked and that I must call an 800 number. The keyboard and mouse were also locked out or had no effect. I immediately did a "hard shutdown" holding in the power button for 10 sec. Is this apparent hack a real hack, a phishing ruse, or other known intrusion? Thanks.

Posted on Sep 9, 2023 9:02 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Sep 9, 2023 11:32 AM

It's a scam. Download and run the free version of Malwarebytes. It was developed by a long time contributor to these forums and a highly respected member of the computer security community. 


Also download and run Etrecheck. Be sure to give it Full Disk access before running.



Copy and paste the results into your reply. Etrecheck is a diagnostic tool that was developed by one of the most respected users here in the ASC and recommended by Apple Support  to provide a snapshot of the system and help identify the more obvious culprits that can adversely affect a Mac's performance.


Copy the report


and use the Additional Text button to paste the report in your reply.



Then we can evaluate the report to see if we can determine the cause of the problem.


If you get a message that your system won't let Etrecheck run look for the link to older Etrecheck apps that will run.

3 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Sep 9, 2023 11:32 AM in response to jtyler2gator

It's a scam. Download and run the free version of Malwarebytes. It was developed by a long time contributor to these forums and a highly respected member of the computer security community. 


Also download and run Etrecheck. Be sure to give it Full Disk access before running.



Copy and paste the results into your reply. Etrecheck is a diagnostic tool that was developed by one of the most respected users here in the ASC and recommended by Apple Support  to provide a snapshot of the system and help identify the more obvious culprits that can adversely affect a Mac's performance.


Copy the report


and use the Additional Text button to paste the report in your reply.



Then we can evaluate the report to see if we can determine the cause of the problem.


If you get a message that your system won't let Etrecheck run look for the link to older Etrecheck apps that will run.

Sep 9, 2023 1:33 PM in response to Old Toad

Old Toad, Thank You! My first thought was it looks like a scam, and certainly *not* from Apple. But how does a scammer force a MacOS FireFox session Popup a Full Screen video window, running on repeat, PLUS disable the hardwired iMac keyboard and Bluetooth Apple mouse? Seems a bit much for a simple scam. FWIW, Malwarebytes is rated # 13 of 15 in MacWorld's Sept. 2023 issue.

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iMac login displayed repeating Apple Security video with locked keyboard & mouse

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