My Safari Locked: Windows Security Essentials Detected an Attempt of Identity Theft

Question

ghenryl Author

Level 1

8 points

My Safari Locked: Windows Security Essentials Detected an Attempt of Identity Theft

iMac 21.5 inch, Mid 2011

Software: Mac OSX Lion 10.7.5 (11G63)

Safari: Version 6.1.6 (7537.78.2)

Processor: 2.5 GHz Intel Core i5

Memory: 4GB 1333 MHz DDR3

Graphics: AMD Radeon HD 6750M 512 MB

What just happened?

I was on Facebook watching a movie at DIYBULLSEYE.com about GEET, Paul Patones' invention when this popped up and froze Safari:

http://www.valeriebridals.com

Windows Security Essentials Detected an Attempt of Identity Theft or spyware bots attack from this computer.

All attempts to quarantine the threats failed.

Please contact Microsoft Live Support at 1-844-275-9203 (Toll Free)

I tried to close Safari but could not.

I rebooted the computer and it still popped up and remained frozen.

I could not open preferences in Safari to delete cookies etc.

Fortunately I had a PC available and frantically Googled until I found this link:

http://techguylabs.com/episodes/1055/how-can-i-stop-ads-crashing-safari

Then to this link:

Re: how to remove appround.us pop up?

I followed the instructions successfully.

My question is How does my episode relate to www.appround.us if at all?

Is my computer safe now or should I be concerned?

I also have installed on my Mac:

Java 7 Update 75

Adobe Flash Player

Adobe Reader 10.1.13

Microsoft Office for Mac 2011

Thank you in advance for any information.

Safari Version 6.1.6 (7537.78.2)

Posted on Feb 18, 2015 6:36 PM

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Answer 1

Feb 18, 2015 6:56 PM in response to ghenryl

It's a scam run by people so stupid that they don't even bother to check what kind of computer you have. As you've found, the Safari lockup is temporary and all you need to do is force quit Safari and relaunch it with the Shift key held down. It doesn't install any kind of malware on your computer.

For future reference to anyone else, never ever call the number on such a scam window. They will try to extort money from you and may steal personal or financial information from your computer.

Matt

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Answer 2

ghenryl Author

Level 1

8 points

Feb 18, 2015 7:35 PM in response to Matt Clifton

Thanks for your reply and assurance. How does one protect themselves from this type of incident especially if you are on a seemingly innocent site?

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Answer 3

Feb 19, 2015 7:26 AM in response to ghenryl

Either the site is serving malware, or their advertisers are. You could try to correspond with the site and tell them what's going on - if they're legitimate, they should work to stop it happening.

Matt

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