"Your system is infected with (3) Viruses” when opening a Safari tab

This message came up when I was opening a new window in the Safari browser and makes all sorts of threats if I don’t call Apple Support at 1-866-726-**** and follow Virus removal procedure immediately. I’m always wary of these things and just want to know if anyone else has run across this particular warning.

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Posted on Mar 20, 2018 9:38 AM

Reply
Question marked as Apple recommended

It's spam. Read here > Avoid phishing emails, fake 'virus' alerts, phony support calls, and other scams - Apple Support


Your Mac is ok.

Posted on Mar 20, 2018 9:40 AM

1,218 replies

Aug 19, 2022 5:02 AM in response to tacoryn

Like a bad actor Genie, who floats out of the bottle.


Mythical characters, can only have power over us

only if given that strength. A matter of Will, helps..



..This thread is a 74-pg long record breaker. The proper..

Recognize and avoid phishing messages, phony support calls, and other scams - Apple Support

..answer(s) are repeated, on every page; & many times.


Aug 19, 2022 11:29 AM in response to tacoryn

tacoryn wrote:

It happened to me too I just opened safari and I virus popped out idk how and why it just did


You are reading an advertisement making false claims, and your iPhone has no viruses.


The advertiser is lying.


Nothing is wrong with your iPhone, either.


Not anything from this advertisement, and nothing was detected by this advertisement, and certainly nothing related to the bogus “scan” cartoon animations that many of these advertisements claim to perform.


These advertisements cannot scan your iPhone/iPad/Mac/Windows/whatever, and cannot detect malware, but they can lie.


And lie they do.


The advertisers all know and choose to use scary words, too. Virus! Hacker! Infected!


Please see the previous seventy-some pages for some other folks that have encountered advertisers that have lied.


Some of the other sorts of lies and scams you have or will encounter:


Recognize and avoid phishing messages, phony support calls, and other scams - Apple Support

Sep 14, 2022 7:34 AM in response to Eden118y

Eden118y wrote:

My daughter had this happen to her, she’s not even a teenager and it freaked her out


It freaks a lot of people, yes.


It works for its intended purpose.


Time to teach the youngster that some advertisers will lie, some teachers and parents, some politicians and police…


And that there are lots of scams based on those and other lies, too:


Recognize and avoid phishing messages, phony support calls, and other scams - Apple Support

Sep 30, 2022 9:21 AM in response to atlantaferg

Bottom line? Apple NEVER, EVER puts up such warnings in Safari. Never has, never will. The only warning you will ever from Safari is that the site you want to go to is ‘unsafe’ and it won’t let you go there unless you jump through several hoops.


Any time you get a warning about a virus it’s a scam pure and simple, ALWAYS.

Oct 18, 2022 8:32 AM in response to abetzi

abetzi wrote:

My system is infected with (3) Viruses” when opening a Safari tab.


You are reading an advertisement making false claims, while your iPhone has no viruses.


The advertiser is lying.


Nothing is wrong with your iPhone, either.


Not anything from this advertisement, and nothing was detected by this advertisement, and certainly nothing related to the bogus “scan” cartoon animations that many of these advertisements claim to perform.


These advertisements cannot scan your iPhone/iPad/Mac/Windows/whatever, and cannot detect malware, but they can lie.


And lie they do.


The advertisers all know and choose to use scary words, too. Virus! Hacker! Infected!


Please see the previous seventy-some pages for some other folks that have encountered advertisers that have lied.


Some of the other sorts of lies and scams you have or will encounter:


Recognize and avoid phishing messages, phony support calls, and other scams - Apple Support

Oct 20, 2022 11:39 AM in response to KAISTORM

KAISTORM wrote:

please fix this i dont want this to happen and dont want to spend money


Nothing wrong, nothing happened, no virus, nothing to spend money on.


You are reading an advertisement making false claims, while your iPhone has no viruses.


The advertiser is lying.


Nothing is wrong with your iPhone, either.


Not anything from this advertisement, and nothing was detected by this advertisement, and certainly nothing related to the bogus “scan” cartoon animations that many of these advertisements claim to perform.


These advertisements cannot scan your iPhone/iPad/Mac/Windows/whatever, and cannot detect malware, but they can lie.


And lie they do.


The advertisers all know and choose to use scary words, too. Virus! Hacker! Infected!


Please see the previous seventy-some pages for some other folks that have encountered advertisers that have lied.


Some of the other sorts of lies and scams you have or will encounter:


Recognize and avoid phishing messages, phony support calls, and other scams - Apple Support

Oct 22, 2022 12:41 AM in response to atlantaferg

I need help to get rid of viruses on my phone. I Clicked on to a website I always use and ended up with 27 of them. Now I’m panicking because it said -If viruses are not removed immediately your contact list will be deleted- and stuff like that. I did try the app but I’m not paying to get rid of viruses so can anybody help. So if you do see this reply to it ASAP

Oct 22, 2022 4:54 AM in response to AddisonKing

You realize the options it's giving you are "delete 27 viruses that website wants you to delete" or "website will delete your contacts"? That should be a red flag to you that you can't trust said website because nothing good would make such a demand and follow it up with a threat. It's important to not get your emotions all mixed up in these types of things because that's exactly what they want. People who are scared nervous or upset are less likely to notice something no matter how obvious. Have your contacts been deleted?

Oct 22, 2022 7:19 AM in response to AddisonKing

AddisonKing wrote:

I need help to get rid of viruses on my phone. I Clicked on to a website I always use and ended up with 27 of them. Now I’m panicking because it said -If viruses are not removed immediately your contact list will be deleted- and stuff like that. I did try the app but I’m not paying to get rid of viruses so can anybody help. So if you do see this reply to it ASAP


You are reading an advertisement making false claims, while your iPhone has no viruses.


The advertiser is lying.


Nothing is wrong with your iPhone, either. No viruses. Not even one.


Not anything reported from this advertisement, and nothing was detected by this advertisement, and certainly nothing related to the bogus “scan” cartoon animations that many of these advertisements claim to perform.


These advertisements cannot scan your iPhone/iPad/Mac/Windows/whatever, and cannot detect malware, but they can lie.


And lie they do.


The advertisers all know and choose to use scary words, too. Virus! Hacker! Infected! Scary words work.


Please see the previous seventy-some pages for some other folks that have encountered advertisers that have lied.


Tap on the following blue-text link for some of the other common sorts of lies and scams that you will encounter:


Recognize and avoid phishing messages, phony support calls, and other scams - Apple Support

"Your system is infected with (3) Viruses” when opening a Safari tab

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