How can I get rid of a Congratulations-you-won.com-yourprize.com pop up window on my iPad? It wants me to answer ok but I'm afraid it is a virus.

I got this on my ipad, and I turned off my wi-fi thinking that then I could click okay and get out of it without downloaded anything malicious. I clicked okay and it brought me to a page which I did not even read because I panicked at that point (I was not expecting any new page to appear because the wi-fi was off). So I clicked out of the window before I could think straight, and I don't even know what it said. Is it possible that they have installed anything on my ipad or stolen any information? I did go into settings and deleted my Safari history at that point. I am usually careful about these things but I lost my head for a moment.

kinsola wrote:

I have same question as appleuser1556 (see below) : what happens if you click ok and go through some of the questions?

Did you give them your information (name, date of birth, social security etc)? If not, you have nothing to worry about. Clear Safari temporary files. That's it.

I had this pop-up appear today on Google Chrome. Tried reinstalling both Chrome and Facebook. Didn't work. What did work was (reluctantly) clicking "ok" which didn't actually do any harm. It enabled me to access "settings" (3 dots on top right of screen). I scrolled down to "privacy" and clicked on "clear all". Bingo! Problem fixed.

Patrick_K wrote:

Yes the problem is isolated to my iPhone. I do access the internet with all devices using Safari.

... are those devices accessing the internet through the same WiFi router? You can also clear Safari cache and disable WiFi radio. Retry accessing the same site through cellular network. Does the problem go away? I'd like to see if you can eliminate the router from the scenario.

Hmm.. I agree. It sounds like something on that phone is triggering the pop-up. Did you say your wife's phone/ipad don't show the same symptoms when you use them to access the same website? Also be sure that those devices do not use ad blocker.

My next suggestion is start from the scratch. Backup iPhone to either your computer or iCloud. Do whatever you need to do to make sure you will not lose any photos taken with the phone. Then factory reset it. Do not restore from backup right away. Setup iphone as a new device then access that same site after resetting your phone. If the problem goes away, install the apps manually, one app at a time. Retry accessing the same website. Keep going until you can reproduce the problem.

ok so this is where it gets weird. It did happen when I visited the particular website from my wife's iPhone when I just tried. So it does seem to be this particular website but it only gets triggered by a U.S. mobile device (i.e. with U.S. Apple ID) and not before today ...?

I could try start from scratch but was hoping to avoid. Now that it did happen on a different device I'm not sure that it will solve the problem either. Aargh ... annoying people with their scams ...

By the way, when I disable Java-script it doesn't occur (makes sense since the pop-up would probably by a java-script?), when I browse in private it doesn't happen either and I can visit any other website (U.S. or Dutch).

This is an old post but still comes up. The spyware is attached to a particular website. Inform that site that their info is being tracked by phishers.

And you should delete your history in safari often. It also speeds up your iOS .

Your info was tracked because you filled info on a website that is probably legit..but now they see you and want to get more info because iOS will not let them into your device. Inform the website because the problem is theirs'.

It is not a virus.

What it is a phishing attack that is trying to steal your ID.

Go to Settings, then Safari, then push the ""Clear History and Website Data".

No it didn't, it is a browser hijack.

LogezP wrote:

Stay away from pornographic websites and you won't get the issue.

Not at all true. There are many other kinds of sites out there where you will see these same scam pop-ups. Even a normal, legit site could be the victim of a problem like this, if it - or the ad network it uses for its advertising - gets hacked.

I'm not advocating going to p0rn sites, just saying that you're not going to avoid the problem just by avoiding them.

BeaBeaDesigns wrote:

Hi

Many thanks for the suggested Fix. I tried your method, twice, but I still have exactly the same problem. Do you have any further suggestions or advice?

Thanks

One of the websites you visit may have been bugged with the script. You'll have to find out what that site is and avoid accessing it until they fix the problem.

I'm getting this pop up on my iPhone and only when I go to the ABC News website abc.net.au/news/ with Safari, when I use Google Chrome I don't get the pop up?? I've tried all the options to stop this pop up and nothing is working?

I'm tired of going to Safari to clear history every time I am on the internet. Can anything be done to stop these? It is very irritating - by clearing history my saved passwords are gone, my history is gone, my favorites are gone - why can't we stop this if we have pop-ups blocked??