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

vishnupriya194 wrote:

I had the same message

Your system is infected with (3) Viruses”

…just want to know if anyone else has run across this particular warning.

Yes, others have encountered this scam.

A quick Google search shows just shy of a hundred thousand postings of this or of very similar scams, with 64 pages of those myriad postings here in this thread.

It’s a pretty common scam.

One of many different sorts of scams.

Here are some tips for Apple users ➡️ Recognize and avoid phishing messages, phony support calls, and other scams - Apple Support

Comicat wrote:

Tengo un virus

Tu no tienes un virus.

Estás leyendo un anuncio.

Por favor lee esto ➡️ Reconocer y evitar mensajes de suplantación de identidad (phishing), falsas llamadas de soporte técnico y otras estafas - Soporte técnico de Apple (US)

tommyk4 wrote:

Everyone says my iMac has three viruses on it ,tell me how do I get rid of the viruses. Thank you

Who might “everyone” be, here? Some pop-up ads? There are lots of advertising pop-ups making boldly bogus claims…

What are the symptoms or messages or diagnostics that you are encountering?

Adware—the “free” apps and the “coupon” apps and the subscribed calendars and some problematic security tools can potentially be involved—and that can usually be removed.

Download and run EtreCheck, and share the report to the clipboard. Then open a new reply here, and then press the button that looks like a printed page to get a text input box (attachment) big enough to paste the hardware and software report here. From that, we will have a better idea of your hardware and software, and what sort of adware or other sometimes-problematic apps are installed.

Deandre462 wrote:

i have 19 viruses

I'm sorry to hear that. Check with your preferred medical provider about that.

As for your iPhone, you're reading an advertisement using words intended to trigger you.

"Hacker" and "virus" are popular and effective trigger words, and the advertisers know that and use those.

There is very little malware for iPhone and iPad, it's rarely used, and your currently-patched iPhone or iPad is just fine.

If this follows the previous sixty-six pages here, at most you've subscribed to a spammer's calendar, or have seen a pop-up advertisement from a sketchy seller.

Click or tap on the following for some info : Recognize and avoid phishing messages, phony support calls, and other scams - Apple Support

eoze19 wrote:

It was quite terrifying for me because i dont want plp to be on my ipone but i did open it witch was verry dumb of me i still might need help with this though i did clear my search history and i was online again and apple said their were viruses on my phone again and i needed an app to get rid of it? I panicked again and am still and forever will be.

The whole point of these messages is to panic you. To shut off your thinking process. To make you act against your own interests. The technique works, too.

Here’s a rule of thumb for you: any use or “hacker” or “virus” you encounter is rubbish, until proven otherwise. If you see either of those words, think “the advertiser is lying to me” or “what is this advertiser trying to sell me?”

Now for yourself and your iPhone, how are your backups? Got current ones? If not, get backups.

Been through and checked your password security recommendations (Settings > Passwords > Security Recommendations)?

Got two-factor authentication enabled? If not, enable it. That’s one more chance to maintain control of your Apple ID.

Is your iPhone running current iOS? If not, enable it.

But advertisements? The internet and all other media is replete with those. And more than a few advertisers will lie to you.

Hello ~ These are scammers attempting to get your Apple ID and passwords. If you click on and gave out information:

If you think your Apple ID has been compromised - Ap

Recognize and avoid phishing messages, phony support calls ...

Keep your iPhone updated as well.

~Katana-San~

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

//support.apple.com/en-us/HT204759

Jan 13, 2022

To report a suspicious SMS text message that looks like it's supposed to be from Apple,

take a screenshot of the message and email the screenshot to reportphishing@apple.com.

~ To report spam or other suspicious emails that you receive in your iCloud.com, me.com,

or mac.com Inbox, send them to abuse@icloud.com. (..Look through the reference link..)

..Avoid getting excited, those are just classic scam messages;

testing your resolve to ignore them, but do not answer them!!

RhetRx wrote:

…Ideas on what I should be looking for deeply appreciated! Their iMac likely running an out-of-date OS, as it was one of the last models to have a CD drive in the body of the machine. Yes, I’ve ordered them a newer one, but now I’m worried that any transfer of files might now be ‘infected’ with something….

Roll in their backups from immediately prior to the breach, and change all the passwords, and get a password manager (Keychain or otherwise) going. If this follows one of the usual patterns, they won’t have current backups and that for any of various good or not-so-good reasons.

You can then choose to sort this out “the hard way” which is wiping and reloading with whatever the most current version might be (or migrating documents and settings and not apps to a new Mac), and changing all the passwords.

Or you can possibly migrate them to iPads. This if there are analogous iPadOS apps available for what they’re using on the Mac. If this follows one of the common patterns, a Mac will be getting more than they want to manage.

There’s no good answer, and cleaning up from a breach is tedious.

Garrison123Q wrote:

I have three virus what take up 33.9% of my iPad how to fix for free because I have no money

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

Nothing wrong with your iPhone, either. Not from this advertisement, and not detected by this advertisement, and certainly not related to the bogus “scan” cartoon animation most of these advertisements claim to perform. But cannot.

see the previous seventy-some pages for other folks that have met with these same advertisments.

Garrison123Q wrote:

Thanks 😁 I’m happy know I fought I had a virus

Be skeptical about anything you might read that includes the words “virus” or “hacker”.

Far too often, the words “virus” and “hacker” are used to lie or scam, to entertain, or as the equivalent to “something different happened and I don’t know what or why. Please help me.”

For details from Apple about common scams: Recognize and avoid phishing messages, phony support calls, and other scams - Apple Support

ComposerJames wrote:

I've also gotten "viruses" shown on the notifications of Safari. It has a shield with an X on it- has that a main cause??? Or something???

It’s an advertisement. As ads go, it works immensely well. It’s among the best advertisements around. Just look at seventy-plus pages of postings on it here, and which is undoubtedly a small fraction of those that have seen the ad, and those that have (unfortunately, unnecessarily, needlessly) installed something acquired via the advertisement.

This is not limited to “virus!!!” advertisements, too.

Others can and will and do use similar techniques and similar lies, whether for (or against) products, politicians, public policies, propaganda, and myriad other interests, too.

FileRehab wrote:

…Likewise Macs also need Antivirus software and it may be Avira Antivirus in 2023.

macOS already contains built-in anti-malware support, with some notable updates in recent macOS versions with XProtect Remediator, and with active malware scanning, and with app notarization to identify and isolate and remediate malware.

Backups are as or more important, too. Usually Time Machine, though there are other options. One of the very few ways to mark data as being important and valuable is with backups. Yet more valuable data gets multiple backups, and rotating and variously offsite backups. No good backups means no good recovery.

Biggest security issue in recent years (past lack of backups) tends to be adware—apps that the user specifically installs that themselves contain advertising or more—and phishing and related, “cracked” apps, and password re-use and such. Some of the add-on security apps quite commonly present questionable ads and pop-ups, such as the “your {it’s already public info} is posted on the dark web!” silliness.

Add-on security? No panacea here. This because some well-known add-on security apps have been known to sell personal data, and others to leak data, and to lie about their security and/or their logging practices, or to “fix” problems that haven’t existing for a decade or so, and other add-on security apps have had hilariously bad and insecure designs.

Reposting links from earlier:

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

Effective defenses against malware and other threats - Apple Community

charvis144 wrote:

Uh idk why i got this thing

An advertisement like this “you have (3) viruses” advertisement? We all see advertisements on the internet. Including this advertisement. Advertisements are common, and some—such as this advertisement—are profitable for the advertiser. Yes, this “you have (3) viruses” stuff is an advertisement, pretending to be something it’s not: a malware scan. The advertiser would prefer you go buy some app you don’t need for a problem you don’t have, because that’s profitable for the advertiser.

Jord4nl33 wrote:

I got a message saying I had 3 viruses on my phone and just wanted to know if it was a scam

It’s a an advertisement. It lied. No viruses.

For details and previous discussions of this, please see the seventy-nine pages of this thread.

Here are some other common scams: Recognize and avoid phishing messages, phony support calls, and other scams - Apple Support

makai225 wrote:

i need to delete all of my viruses off of my apple iphone

Easy. All done. All removed. Gone. Bye-bye! That was easy, wasn’t it? Wait, what, it was that easy? Yeah. That easy. yeah, the advertisement you’re reading—usually an advertisement for a product you don’t need, and that solves a problem you don’t have and that hasn’t existed for a decade or so— lied. Lied about the “virus scan”, too. Yes, lied. You don’t have any malware on your iPhone. Enjoy!

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