Fake virus warning

middleman3649 wrote:

My MacBook also started a continuous beep noise from the speaker. Is this the same?

Beeping / voiceovers / multiple tabs / windows opening on their own / refusal to go away are annoyances intended to frighten you / get your attention / or just wear you down. It's all part of the same scam.

I Force Quit Safari but the page is still showing in my history. What action if any should I take?

Clear history if you wish. It's optional.

From Phony "tech support" / "ransomware" popups and web pages:

1. (optional) Select the History menu > Clear History...

Choose an appropriate period to clear from the dropdown menu. That action will ensure you don't inadvertently navigate back to the same problematic web page.

This is a scam. It is not a threat. Dismiss the webpage. NO other action is necessary, or justified.

Install nothing. Read Phony "tech support" / "ransomware" popups and web pages.

...I am hoping it doesn't become a regular one.

Those things are becoming more prevalent, and it affects all devices... Macs, PCs, iPhones, etc, anything that runs a web browser allowing the scripting language that controls website behavior.

• You could turn that feature off, but if you do most websites just won't work.
• Blocking popup windows can help, but will also prevent legitimate websites from using them.
• Ad-blocking Safari Extensions can also help, but installing Extensions can also have repercussions you may not want. No ad blockers are completely effective anyway, and some of them also exist to harvest your personal information and sell it. Surprised? I hope not.

Avoiding the (frequently sketchy) websites that host those scams is a good defense, but no website that hosts interest-based targeted advertising will ever be completely immune. I've encountered those scams using Dictionary dot com (of all things). Most "news" sites are noteworthy offenders, as are nearly all "adult entertainment" sites. So I hear.

Hi

This is due to gatekeeper you installed on the system or after uninstall of the gatekeeper you did not remove all the files from that program.

You can click on the apple logo on the left top and there you can find the option for force quit. If under force quit you are not able to get the application you can simply force shut down the computer.

This is a fake virus alert so after boot, you have to delete some files.

Go to:-

~/library

Under look for any unwanted programs folder or fake program folder.

Delete them.

Then under the same folder go to safari and delete all the files that you have there.

Go to preferences under the same folder and locate any plist which look like a virus or for a fake/unwanted program.

Clear the trash.

Then hold the shift key and click on safari.

Once safari opens you can run any malware cleaner program and check for the leftover infected items.

Malwarebytes | Malwarebytes for Mac

You can use this program to scan for the infection.

Delete all the program which you don't recognize.

Check the startup items.

Thank you.

Please do not try to follow any of samnick096's advice.

Gatekeeper is always installed as part of the OS. There's no way for the user to choose to install it. There's also no way to uninstall it.

The only part of samnick096's post that is correct is that it's a fake alert. There is nothing to search for or delete. It's nothing but one of thousands of similar popups trying to get you to fall for a scam.

The only things you need to do are:

1) Do exactly what it says not to do and ignore it.

2) Don't visit that web site again. That's where the popup is being generated from.

I just had a message in a window on DuckDuckGo appear with “Virus Warning|Official Apple Support Communities” Trojan virus warning

My MacBook also started a continuous beep noise from the speaker. Is this the same?

I Force Quit Safari but the page is still showing in my history. What action if any should I take?

Probably not exactly the same, but the same concept. It's nothing but a scam generated by the site you visited, or were redirected to. You do not need to do anything but stay away from that site.

Safari shows the same page after a Force Quit because its default is to reload all pages you were last on. Close Safari again. Hold down the Shift key and then launch Safari. This tells it not to load any previous pages.

Just to make it clear. I did hold in shift and it didn't re-open the windows but the page still appears in my bookmark history. Do I just delete my history or can I delete that individual page? Don't want to open it again inadvertently

Read through the entire link John provided. What you'll likely have to do is the step to disconnect from the Internet. Doesn't matter if Safari is running or not when you do that since there is now no way for the site to stop you from closing the popup, and then closing the tab.

When a page reappears even on a Shift launch, the cause is most likely iCloud. Not always, but we've seen a lot of posts from iPhone and iPad users who cannot remove a scam like this. Not even after clearing web site data. The issue turned out to be their own iCloud account, which was immediately re-syncing the data from iCloud. The solution was to turn Safari syncing in iCloud off so it couldn't do that.

This isn't a cure-all method. It's just another one to try since iCloud can cause the same issue on your Mac.

Thanks all. This is the first time I have had this annoyance appear on my Mac so I am hoping it doesn't become a regular one.

So I hear.

😁