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

And then you made things worse by installing completely useless software. Get rid of Norton. Ignore such scam sites and popups. They are - every single one of them - a scam. Just close the page and move on.

shereen23 wrote:

How i can protect my phone

The same way you protect phones since the rotary dial era. If you get a harassing or unwanted call, ignore it. Hang up. Do the same with your iPhone when a scam message appears: ignore it. Close the page.

Then stop using Google to find this ridiculously outdated topic which was answered over two years ago.

Anonymous175 wrote:

I went to use this site and it told me that I have 2 viruses on my device so I need to download the app to continue, I just want to scan my phone for free to be sure. I don’t know if it’s a scam or not.

See here: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/8326564?answerId=252703472022#252703472022

If that is not clear,

IT IS ALWAYS A SCAM.

WHAT PART OF THAT DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND?

noora86 wrote:

got a popup that says “Your system is infected with (3) Viruses” and then says to call apple support 1-866-726-****. Has anyone ever seen this before or is this more fishing?

Your iPhone is fine. Yes, this is more phishing. Yes, phishing is endemic.

It's far easier to hack us—people— than to hack our iPhones, iPads, and Macs.

I posted a longer write-up on this particular scam toward the top of this same page of replies.

Lavadude0914 wrote:

I have gotten these rapped ones. It was always when I opened a new tab. I was forced to loose all my data because of it. Always have a time machine backup, I highly recommend it. Also if you own "little snitch" I suggest that, you can spy on the people spying on you basically. Also dont visit websites you never heard of, and look at that link to make sure. Use a antivirus protection app. Try "clean my mac X" or Avast.

Little Snitch tends to cause inexperienced folks problems.

Avast was collecting and reselling user's identity and the user's entire web activity history and particularly web purchasing activity.

Various add-on anti-malware apps have created vulnerabilities, and these have been targeted—Google researchers have found a number of exploits against anti-malware, and some of the available anti-malware has been found shockingly shoddily implemented, too.

I generally don't recommend add-on anti-malware, nor add-on VPN clients, nor add-on cleaners, or such, and I'd use caution with Little Snitch particularly if you're not very familiar with network traffic and activities—it's very easy for an inexperienced or incautious user to disrupt normal operations with that tool.

Add-on cleaners can be sources of corruptions and instabilities, based on the various discussions that arise around here in the forums. I strongly recommend against these. And some of these add-on cleaners have had legal issues. If something does go wrong with a cleaner, the usual recourse is to wipe and restore from backup, too.

The built-in Apple anti-malware does reasonably well against what malware is around for macOS, particularly if you're keeping current to Catalina or Big Sur, and keeping your apps current.

Domlomas wrote:

I got a virus thing sayin that I have 3 viruses and it will infect my phone it was by apple so I ignored it and ever since then my phone has been having troubles ussing Snapchat and WhatsApp they won’t send photos or videos and it keeps taking me of the app and I have downloaded a virus app and it said I have no virus before this it was completely fine

You don't have a virus because there are no viruses that effect unjailbroken iPhones. So, whatever app you downloaded to tell you that was a waste of time and money if you paid for it.

Delete the SnapChat and WhatsApp apps and reinstall them. If you're still having trouble with them, contact the developers.

august74 wrote:

It also says your system is infected

Of course it does.

Phony "tech support" / "ransomware" popups and web pages includes a description of this and other scams that can and will appear on any Internet-connected device that incorporates a display. That's a lot of devices, with literally billions of potential victims to exploit.

The scam artists behind their creation have no ability to "scan" anything. As the screenshots in that above User Tip illustrate, they don't even know what device they might appear on.

Victorybabe67 wrote:

I got warning today and it wouldn't allow me to go further. I called the number 1-888-408-xxxx and ended up paying over $200. I was unable to get in touch with Apple Support and this is still bothering me.

If you paid by credit card, notify your bank to inform them of the scam.

If you allowed the criminals to access your computer, consider it and every password ever used on the computer compromised. Immediately take steps to change all passwords.

It's not likely, but...

The free Malwarebytes may take care of it...

https://www.malwarebytes.com/mac/

See if you have unknown Profiles.

To remove a configuration profile in macOS:

1. From the Apple menu, select System Preferences....
2. From the View menu in System Preferences, select Profiles.Note:
3. Profiles won't be visible until you have at least one profile installed.
4. Select the profile you want to remove, and then press the - (minus) button. Click Remove to remove the profile.

Hello~ Also take a read through this info to learn. These people look for ways to gain your information…don’t click on anything or give out anything…you did well in asking.

Recognize and avoid phishing messages, phony support calls

~Katana-San~

Hello ~ You don’t have any viruses on your device….go up several posts and click on the blue links. They will take you to some helpful information and things you can do to help. These things you are seeing are from emails or spam calendars….unless you click on them and give them your information you are fine. So …go back and read the information and don’t give these criminals a chance to get your information. Being well informed is your best protection.

~Katana-San~

Comicat wrote:

Me apareció un virus

No, tu no. La ventana emergente “pop-up” mintió.

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

juanreyashke wrote:

Same situation occurred.

Yes; the same situation has occurred… a lot. Sixty-six pages here, and with far more that have not chosen to post here.

As has been mentioned before, your iPhone is fine.

That’s not how these scams and not how these advertisements work.

These scams and these advertisements focus on you, and on things that you fear.

They’ll use words like “virus!” or “hacker!” to hook you.

These scams and these advertisements target you, not your iPhone.

Websites cannot scan your iPhone. Websites cannot do what they claim. If websites could do that—scanning is very intrusive and requires more access than even local iPhone apps can have—then they’d would just upload your passwords and your data. But they can’t. So they try to fool you into doing something against your own best interests.

Here is a blue-text link to some tips for avoiding the most common of these scams, and for recognizing some of the most common of these sketchy advertisements:

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

Again, your iPhone is fine.

yazxtra13 wrote:

hello, how are you? I want to know what I do because there is 3 viruses in my iPhone.

Thank you for your assistance

Your iPhone is fine. If you saw the message in Safari, simply close the tab and continue.

makai225 wrote:

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

There are no viruses on your apple iphone. There are only scams, threats, and fear-mongering messages alleging them. Ignore them.