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Carlton Chin Author

Level 3

838 points

Suspicious Activity Detected - Pop Up Window

I got a pop-up window in Safari about "Suspicious Activity Detected" and that my browser might have been hijacked. It then says I should contact the number listed. Every time I clicked okay, the window keeps returning. I ended up doing a force quit on Safari. I am assuming this is one of those annoying spam deals, no? I am just wondering based on this attached screen shot if that is the case and if anyone else has seen the same window before.

iMac, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.5)

Posted on Sep 2, 2014 7:18 PM

Top-ranking reply

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,649 points

Posted on Sep 2, 2014 8:26 PM

It's not malware. It's a JavaScript scam that only affects your web browser, and only temporarily.

1. Some of those scam pages can be dismissed very easily. Press command-W to close the tab or window. A huge box will pop up. Press the return key and both the box and the page will close. If that doesn't happen, continue.

2. From the Safari menu bar, select

Safari ▹ Preferences... ▹ Security

and uncheck the box marked Enable JavaScript. Leave the preferences dialog open.

Close the malicious window or tab.

Re-enable JavaScript and close the preferences dialog.

3. If the Preferences menu item is grayed out, quit Safari. Force quit if necessary. Relaunch it by holding down the shift key and clicking its icon in the Dock. From the menu bar, select

Safari ▹ Preferences... ▹ Privacy ▹ Remove All Website Data

to get rid of any cookies or other data left by the server. Open your Downloads folder and delete anything you don't recognize.

View in context

41 replies

TildeBee

Level 7

31,923 points

Sep 2, 2014 9:52 PM in response to MadMacs0

Hey MadMacs0 --

Thanks for that explanation. Good for us all to understand.

😎

MadMacs0

Level 5

5,227 points

Sep 2, 2014 10:45 PM in response to TildeBee

You're welcome.

Sep 18, 2014 4:18 PM in response to Linc Davis

Hey thanks, Linc! Step 3 worked perfectly for me! That was a first for me as far as getting any weird malware or scripts. I got nervous for a sec..

Thanks to MadMacs0 as well for the info!

Oct 3, 2014 7:37 PM in response to Carlton Chin

I have tried it by turning off the wifi..Once your wi-fi is turned off just close the tabs and delete the history.

This worked for me..

Ferdie E

Level 1

0 points

Dec 11, 2014 4:41 PM in response to Sharon Langham

Follow Linc's step 3. Works for me.

Mar 23, 2015 6:24 PM in response to Carlton Chin

if if you see this windows on Ipad

1)Go in to Settings

2) Select Safari

3) Select clear history and website data

4) Then select clear

It fixed my ipad.🙂

Apr 4, 2015 8:28 PM in response to Linc Davis

Link's explanation was spot on. My wife's computer was infected with the same thing but details a little different. The fix he described worked perfectly. Seems so simple now.

Thanks, Link