received error message WBACK7917 from Safari telling me to call 855-462-1908

This is a phishing scam. Do not click on any links nor call any telephone numbers.

Helpful Links Regarding Malware Problems

If you are having an immediate problem with ads popping up see The Safe Mac » Adware Removal Guide, remove adware that displays pop-up ads and graphics on your Mac, and AdwareMedic. If you require anti-virus protection Thomas Reed recommends using ClamXAV. (Thank you to Thomas Reed for this recommendation.) You might consider adding this Safari extensions: Adblock Plus 1.8.9.

Open Safari, select Preferences from the Safari menu. Click on Extensions icon in the toolbar. Disable all Extensions. If this stops your problem, then re-enable them one by one until the problem returns. Now remove that extension as it is causing the problem.

The following comes from user stevejobsfan0123. I have made minor changes to adapt to this presentation.

Fix Some Browser Pop-ups That Take Over Safari.

Common pop-ups include a message saying the government has seized your computer and you must pay to have it released (often called "Moneypak"), or a phony message saying that your computer has been infected, and you need to call a tech support number (sometimes claiming to be Apple) to get it resolved. First, understand that these pop-ups are not caused by a virus and your computer has not been affected. This "hijack" is limited to your web browser. Also understand that these messages are scams, so do not pay any money, call the listed number, or provide any personal information. This article will outline the solution to dismiss the pop-up.

Quit Safari

Usually, these pop-ups will not go away by either clicking "OK" or "Cancel." Furthermore, several menus in the menu bar may become disabled and show in gray, including the option to quit Safari. You will likely have to force quit Safari. To do this, press Command + option + esc, select Safari, and press Force Quit.

Relaunch Safari

If you relaunch Safari, the page will reopen. To prevent this from happening, hold down the 'Shift' key while opening Safari. This will prevent windows from the last time Safari was running from reopening.

This will not work in all cases. The shift key must be held at the right time, and in some cases, even if done correctly, the window reappears. In these circumstances, after force quitting Safari, turn off Wi-Fi or disconnect Ethernet, depending on how you connect to the Internet. Then relaunch Safari normally. It will try to reload the malicious webpage, but without a connection, it won't be able to. Navigate away from that page by entering a different URL, i.e. www.apple.com, and trying to load it. Now you can reconnect to the Internet, and the page you entered will appear rather than the malicious one.

you have a malware/virus in your safari

Restart safari in SAFE MODE

open preferences and find Developer on menu bar and enable it

then disable javascript

clear Cache

and then find it and kill it off your system

I doubt that Kappy has a virus, especially as there aren't any Mac viruses.

Has this occured to anyone else?

Those attacks are reported on this site about a dozen times a day. It's not malware and you don't have to do anything you haven't already done.

OMG......I can't believe I fell for calling this number. I should of know when "protection" was spelled wrong at top of page. I started to get really nervous when they took control of my computer. The guy was obviously from India, and even had an attitude. I'm so embarrassed! I gave him my email address and cell phone#. I hung up when he wanted to contact me to cisco. Right away installed Norton for Mac. I'm so nervous about him having my e-mail address.

You don't need Norton software. I would uninstall it before it slows your computer to a crawl. As long as they had no access to your computer you are OK.

dcarothers21 wrote:

I started to get really nervous when they took control of my computer.

What does this mean?

Based on your IP address they can actually take control of your computer remotely. U will see them opening and closing pages, they see everything. They asked me if my screen saver was my daughter. Freaked me out. There are legitimate IT people, who do this to help fix problems. I going to try and report them to some agency, not sure who. Hope this helps.

So you did let them into your Mac. Because of that you need to consider it compromised, erase it and restore from a backup that precedes the criminals gaining access.

Also change all passwords, credit card numbers etc. Don't wait.

Thank you! I know. Do you know how to do that?

Do a backup, preferable 2 separate ones on 2 drives. Boot to the Recovery Volume (command - R on a restart or hold down the option/alt key during a restart and select Recovery Volume). Run Disk Utility Verify/Repair and Repair Permissions until you get no errors. Reformat the drive using Disk Utility/Erase Mac OS Extended (Journaled), then click the Option button and select GUID. Then re-install the OS.