iPhone locked due to illegal activity

Not sure what has happened. This morning when I went to launch Safari on my iPhone, it went to a URL "security-breach.net, and kept flashing back and forth with my printer program. I can not enter any data, or do anything to Safari to make it work. The only thing I can do is shut it down. I'm assuming it is some kind of virus.

The screen lists a Support number (****)

The error message says:

"Attention!

Your device has been locked due to detected illegal activity! Immediately call Apple Support to unlock it.

We're here to help."

What is this, because I don't believe it is an actual Apple alert. Assuming it isn't, how do I deal with it.

Thank you.

[Edited by Host]

iPhone 6 Plus, iOS 10.3.1, 64 gig

Posted on May 18, 2017 6:34 AM

Top-ranking reply

Aleph_0

Level 1

19 points

Posted on Jun 1, 2017 1:25 PM

A less disruptive solutions - you don't have to delete your whole history - is to quit safari and using force touch on the icon open a new tab. Then you can access your history and swipe delete the malicious urls. Then you can make carefully sure the when you tap on show tabs the bad ones are not there any more. If for some reason they are still there, just very carefully closed them tapping on the X button of each tab. Do not select any of them just directly tap on their X button and close them.

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36 replies

May 18, 2017 6:38 AM in response to noelmac

It's a scam.

Restart your device.

stedman1

Level 10

266,518 points

Jun 14, 2017 2:04 PM in response to Examinergirl

Examinergirl wrote:

Ok but is this an actual virus?

No.

iltwist

Level 1

4 points

Jul 1, 2017 10:29 AM in response to noelmac

iltwist

Level 1

4 points

Jul 1, 2017 10:29 AM in response to noelmac

I resolved by clicking on a internet link within an email in iphone mail. This sent me to safari and allowed me to remove the pages causing the pop up issue without deleting any web data.

Jul 28, 2017 11:26 AM in response to iltwist

Agreed that this is a solution. However, this seems to be happening to me increasingly frequently. When will a patch be released to prevent this thug from happening?!

Feb 3, 2018 4:44 PM in response to Nikishah

No, clearing it works. I was saying that if you just restart your phone like they were suggesting, then it won’t do anything.

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iPhone locked due to illegal activity