Safari on Mac frozen with VIRUS FOUND popup

So I got something like this too recently. And...not smart of me...I called the number. I did not give out credit card information, but I'm still freaked out. Is there anything I should do? I feel like my computer has been violated.

Hello Brookster303,

As long as you didn't give them any type of payment information, and did not allow them remote access to your Mac, then nothing happened. It would be the same as a salesman calling you (instead of the other way around as in this case) and then hanging up on them.

See, that's again where I wasn't smart. I did give them access, thinking it was legit. But then when they started to ask for money to fix the problem overall, thats when I said I would find other assistance first before I went that route 😟

In that case, while you can watch them do things on your screen remotely, there's no telling what else they may have done in the background. They may have managed to grab personal data such as bank account info. It is a bit of a stretch, but without any way to be certain, you have to take the position that they did.

Call your bank and have them watch for suspicious activity.

On the Mac, very first thing to do is to make sure you have disconnected any remote management software they had you install. Usually LogMeIn or TeamViewer. Open the System Preferences and click on the Sharing icon. Make sure all share options are unchecked. They may have turned on things like screen sharing and could still watch what you're doing online, capturing the following changes as you do them. So try and make sure they have no way of seeing what you're doing. If at all possible, first restore your latest backup so your Mac is back at a point before any of this occurred.

Once you do the above, change all important passwords immediately. Such as for your bank, credit card account and email.

Great...I don't know what to do then. I mean it wasn't long, but never know what they can do in a short amount of time. This is ridiculous how this can happen. Ughhhh

Unfortunately, humans are geared to react to frightening situations at a subconscious level. When a popup not only claims that your computer is severely infected, but also makes it look to be locked up, the first response is fear. That fear turns into reaction before logical evaluation. That's exactly what they're counting on.

It stinks, but do what you can to remain calm and systematically block all possible avenues for these crooks.

This solution worked for me too. And I am busy reading the MMG.

I do need the information from the site that I tried to open from a google search. Do I need to report to them that their site has been hacked? Can I safely go to them a second time, to see if I get the same result????

Jim