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

Lavadude0914 wrote:

Its phishing, Just look at the url. Thats the dead giveaway, The make the website look like the apple one,then block of features and make a pop up, they literally lock your computer. The url is usually just made up of million upon thousands of numbers.

Thank you but I already read the 34 pages that explain that it is phishing.

Still 35 Pages, & Counting..

"..it's just more Phishing..!" 🌞|🎣|🐟|🎣🐠|🎣|🌜

Q: I 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 (only here) or is this more fishing? (yes) It's called Phishing!

[..First Posted on Mar 20, 2018 8:38 AM..]

 I have never had this question! 

++++++++++++++++++++++++

You have useless garbage running on your phone. What works best - by far - is an ad blocker. There are numerous free ones in the App Store. We use the free version of AdGuard on our iOS devices.

Nothing is perfect. Ad blockers block many ads, but they can't do anything about a site that intentionally displays false information about being infected. They can't do anything about messages or emails you receive claiming the same type of nonsense.

helenafromakron wrote:

I just received this message this morning, but I have have spamware running on my phone.

Too many of the commercial security products are trash.

At least one of the well-known commercial security products collected and resold your web activities and your web purchasing history.

As for the scammers and the schemers? The folks in the business of scamming will continue to evolve to bypass defenses against their schemes, too. This scamming is a business. A business that is increasingly automated, and that has access to vast and very distributed computing resources, too.

Some of the server account dumps are likely why y’all are getting targeted, too. Folks with icloud email caught in those dumps are probably using Apple gear. Unique passwords across all accounts too, as password “cramming“ is very popular. Your (hopefully) old passwords acquired from those same server dumps are also used in the “we’ve activated your camera” scams.

Calling telephone numbers and sending email addresses can be spoofed/forged/faked, too. A friend of mine still sends me mail occasionally, though he died several years ago. Our old email conversations got picked up in a server breach years ago, and the spammers still use that data to try to phish folks.

What to do?

Enable two-factor authentication on your Apple ID, if that’s not already enabled.

Unique passwords across all of your accounts.

Be skeptical about senders and callers.

joetta81 wrote:

I just gt that same nessage

i freaked

but

git right on Apple.com and found it’s nothing to worry about

the pop up had a button to scan enediatly , THATS when it probably will get downloaded.

is there a place I can get a virus scan directly from Apple ???

If a webpage could even scan an iPhone or an iPad or a Mac, that would be a catastrophe.

If a webpage could scan a webpage, we’d all know that.

Why? Why do we know that didn’t happen? That that scan cannot happen?

How do we know these folks are lying to the ignorant and the u wary and the ripe-for-getting-conned?

Becusee if that could happen, there’s be no reason to claim they scanned your iPhone or iPad or Mac.

There’d be no reason.

None.

They’d just steal everything.

This because scanning for malware requires total access.

Access to all your information, all files, all data, everything.

If the scammers had that access, we’d all know it, as all of our data would have been stolen, from everyone, everywhere.

Blocking that remote access is a fundamental part of any and every web browser, too.

If the scammers could scan, they wouldn’t need to claim they ran a scan.

They’re posting these messages to panic, to cause fear, to make readers unsure, and to hook the readers to get scammed.

To make the reader willing to do something valuable to the scammer, whether the reader is operating through fear or ignorance or greed or whatever the hook the scammer might be using.

There’s no difference between these you’re-infected poo-ups and the phone calls telling us we have an open warrant and are subject to arrest, or that a close relative is in dire need of cash, or any of the other scam telephone calls many of us get, or the scam email we get telling us a prince needs our help moving riches.

There’s little difference between these pop-up messages and most advertising, and most social media websites, to be blunt.

Ignore the message.

The scammers wouldn’t need to pop-up that message, if they could do what they claim.

On iPhone and iPad, apps cannot do an anti- malware scan without using a security breach, because Apple blocks it. And the anti- malware would get tossed for using the breach.

On Catalina macOS 10.15 and Big Sur macOS 11, there’s anti-malware running, and bih malware and add-on malware scans are also increasingly blocked from shenanigans, as large parts of the macOS system are read-only with access blocked by the built-in anti-malware.

Again, the scan didn’t happen, so there cannot be a notice of malware, so what did the website do?

They made you fearful. You were swayed by an ad. That lied to you. (Lot of that happening prior to an election, too. Social media exists to spread lies too, as those lies are profitable to the social media platforms. Not valuable to the readers, but to the owners of the platforms.)

Click on the blue text and read the Apple article for a better understanding of a few of the scams:

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

Much like these lying “virus scan” pop-ups, calling telephone numbers and sending email addresses can be spoofed / faked / forged, too. Spoofing who posted an ad or a message is a common technique for getting folks mad at somebody else, too.

Again, the you-have-a-virus pop-up lied. The scammers haven’t yet gotten what they wanted. Which is to get you to install a scam or sketchy app (and there are a lot of sketchy “security” apps, one of the better known anti-malware apps was caught uploading all of your webpage access and all of your web purchases, and reselling all that data about you), or to get your Apple,ID and password, or some other gain for them and loss for you.

Dismiss the pop-up, and get on with being skeptical about the amazing claims. Amazing claims like being able to scan your entire device at all, much less scanning it all in the few seconds that some of those ads claim to show.

When signing into a site via my Apple browser I received an iOS warning that my iPhone was compromised and 17% of my memory was being reviewed by a third-party or something to that effect! It referred me to a virus removal app!! I decided to close the window rather than clicking on anything else! Is my phone infected?

I had the very same message this morning (12/17/2020). I did not open the link. I need to get good malware protection. Can anybody in the Apple community recommend a good malware app to run on my 10 year old iMac? Currently I'm using Malwarebytes free app but it has its limitations. I do not know if upgrading to their premium (paid) service is worth it if there is a better app out there.

MG_Stone

Can anybody in the Apple community recommend a good malware app to run on my 10 year old iMac?

None would be the best malware app to run on a Mac.

What benefit do you think you would get from any malware app? The message you got was a scam. There is no malware on your Mac, and there is no malware app that will prevent that scam message from appearing because the message is on the web server. There is no malware app you can install on your Mac (or any computer) that will "clean" the web server of its malware.

MalwareBytes is a tool for removing Adware that you inadvertently installed on your Mac. Once you clean off the Adware, you don't need MBAM anymore.

I guess I did not explain myself too good. I know that Malwarebytes cannot prevent these adds from appearing in my email inbox. But in the event that malware gets onto my iMac does this community recommend an app to get rid of it. After seeing this email scam and deleting it I decided it was a good time to run a malware diagnostic since I had not done so in awhile. That's what prompted my question to the Apple Community.

MG_Stone wrote:

I guess I did not explain myself too good. I know that Malwarebytes cannot prevent these adds from appearing in my email inbox. But in the event that malware gets onto my iMac does this community recommend an app to get rid of it. After seeing this email scam and deleting it I decided it was a good time to run a malware diagnostic since I had not done so in awhile. That's what prompted my question to the Apple Community.

You can use Malwarebytes. The free version should do what you need.

“in the event that malware gets onto my iMac”

The only beat that can happen is if you install it. Just don’t install malware.

https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-7471

https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-250001781

Bonsoir,

Je parcourais sur safari lorsque un message est parvenu comme quoi j’ai 3 virus dans mon téléphone et que si je ne l’enlève pas il pourrait il y avoir des conséquences sur mon portable ce message venait t’il de Apple? Que doit-je faire?

bonne soirée

Fairymagic37 wrote:

Me too! I was on my iPad looking for the “perfect face” template, and I clicked on the picture. Then it came up with what looked like apples website and said I have the Trojan Horse virus, I clicked scan now and it tried to make me pay. I am still worried, but I don’t know if it did anything

If a website could scan your iPad to the depth of access necessary for actually detecting malware, the crooks would just upload all of your data and all your passwords. Browsers intentionally and necessarily block that access.

So what happened?

The advertisement succeeded in hooking your attention and your interest and your fears, and lied to you.

And you then verified to the advertiser that you are willing to interact with scams.

If you didn’t install anything, you’re very likely just fine.

Though whatever can be determined about your identity here (remotely) may mean you’ll get more of this stuff for a while.

Some reading on the topic:

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

Scam Pop-ups, Scam Viruses, Scam Receipts, Scam Purchase

Victorybabe67 wrote:

I changed all of my important passwords and upgraded to Big Sur. I also notified my credit card company. What else do you suggest?

The upgrade likely won’t have removed any sketchy apps that were installed. That’s why the re-install is suggested. Upgrades are pretty good at preserving what is installed, after all.

That list of changed passcodes and passwords should include the passcodes and passwords to your password-reset paths (mail accounts), passwords and login tokens to your social media accounts, and passcodes or passwords to pretty much anything that can cause you grief, trouble, embarrassment, or data loss.

Enable two-factor authentication on your Apple ID if not already enabled, and confirm your trusted contact data is current and correct.

Here is a list of considerations from Apple, for anyone at serious personal risk: Device and Data Access when Personal Safety is At Risk

macha32 wrote:

Is the any app to solve it for free

There’s nothing wrong with your iPhone or iPad.

You got lied to by an ad in the internet.

An ad making an utterly bogus claim.

Quite possibly offering one of various sketchy apps.

None of which can actually scan your iPhone or iPad storage.

Click or tap on the following blue-text link to learn more about the many scams: Recognize and avoid phishing messages, phony support calls, and other scams - Apple Support