Malware: Pop-Up

Question

Malware: Pop-Up

On my friends computer a window (warning sign) popped up saying his Mac Book is infected with a virus and she should contact the company immediately. They told her that they are working together with the Apple Genius Bar and can fix the problem. She contacted them and gave them access to her desktop to fix the problem. She has no control over her mouse anymore and they are working on her laptop right now. They also offered her a software she can buy for 200$ that should prevent her from getting a similar virus again and which would protect her from future credit card frauds.

What do you guys think ? Is them accessing the computer already a scam, or just selling her the software ?

Thanks for your feedback!

Sandro

Posted on Jul 10, 2014 2:42 PM

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Answer 1

Jul 10, 2014 3:32 PM in response to sandrofredericoz

It's a very bad scam. I'm betting that your friend was 'infected' (not exactly the right term) with "adware" and that he clicked one of the adware pop-ups and got hooked up with this scam.

Unfortunately, there's no telling what sort of information the scam company has gleaned from the computer. I would recommend that your friend shut down immediately, change all passwords (perhaps using something like 1Password) and even consider wiping the entire drive and restoring from backups. Change passwords first, erase disk next and restore from backups immediately.

Clinton

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Answer 2

OGELTHORPE

Level 9

57,305 points

Jul 10, 2014 3:36 PM in response to sandrofredericoz

Clinton is correct. Follow his advice. That was a huge error.

Ciao.

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Answer 3

thomas_r.

Level 7

31,989 points

Jul 10, 2014 4:16 PM in response to sandrofredericoz

As has already been said, this is a scam. Since she gave them access to her computer, she absolutely should erase her hard drive and reinstall everything from scratch. There's no telling what malicious software they might have installed, and it's not possible to reliably determine what malicious changes a person with access to the computer has made. There is no anti-virus software on the planet that can give the computer a clean bill of health.

To properly erase the hard drive and reinstall without carrying over anything malicious, follow the instructions here:

How to reinstall Mac OS X from scratch

Also, if she gave them her credit card, that card should be cancelled immediately and any strange charges disputed.

Once the computer is back up and running with a clean system, that would be the right time to change all passwords... if you do it before erasing the hard drive, any possible keyloggers that might have been installed would pick up the new passwords.

(Fair disclosure: The Safe Mac is my site, and contains a Donate button, so I may receive compensation for providing links to The Safe Mac. Donations are not required.)

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