Unknown tab appears and warns me of a virus, how can I check if someone hacked me?

I was privately browsing on safari on a very reputable site, visited by billions of people every day. All of a sudden, it froze! I couldn’t click on anything. I noticed that an unknown tab was added… Since I’m dumb and gullible, I clicked on the tab. When suddenly, it’s an unknown site, warning me of 14 detected viruses and a 76% corruption! I know the message is clearly fake and I left the site immediately. I cleared all search history, checked for unusual behaviours/ unknown apps and activated all maximum security measures on my phone. What I’m worried about is if clicking on the mystery tab left a potential virus on my phone. Again, I didn’t interact, install or call with the virus message. If I do have a virus, what could I do more and can it hack into my instagram/Facebook account? Thank you for taking the time to read and answer my questions. I’m really worried 😧!!!


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iPhone XR, iOS 17

Posted on Oct 26, 2023 8:15 AM

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Posted on Oct 26, 2023 9:25 AM

You did everything right. There are no viruses that can affect iPhones, and you don't need to do anything else.


Scam websites are extremely common. Private Browsing will not prevent them from appearing. They can appear at any time, can affect any device, anyplace, anywhere on Earth.


Phony "tech support" / "ransomware" popups and web pages - Apple Community has a few entertaining examples and screenshots.

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Question marked as Best reply

Oct 26, 2023 9:25 AM in response to 07uquestion791

You did everything right. There are no viruses that can affect iPhones, and you don't need to do anything else.


Scam websites are extremely common. Private Browsing will not prevent them from appearing. They can appear at any time, can affect any device, anyplace, anywhere on Earth.


Phony "tech support" / "ransomware" popups and web pages - Apple Community has a few entertaining examples and screenshots.

Unknown tab appears and warns me of a virus, how can I check if someone hacked me?

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