A Browser Pop-up Scam has Taken Over Safari - Apple Club |
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Occasionally, a browser window may pop up with a scam message. Common pop-ups include a message saying the government has seized your computer and you must pay to have it released (often called "Moneypak"), trying to force you to download a potentially malicious program, or a phony message saying that your computer has been infected, and you need to call a tech support number (sometimes claiming to be Apple) to get it resolved. First, understand that these pop-ups are not caused by a virus, and your computer has not been infected. This "hijack" is just a JavaScript pop-up, and is limited to your web browser. Also understand that these messages are scams, so do not pay any money, call the listed number, or provide any personal information. No website has the capability to scan your computer for viruses. Most of these scammers, if you actually call the number, will ask you to install software giving them remote control over your computer. Do not do this either. This article will outline the solution to dismiss the pop-up. It addresses this specific kind of pop-up. Pop-ups that are ads or pop-ups that can be easily dismissed are usually caused by adware, and are not addressed in this article. This article is mostly for Mac users, but if you are using iOS, skip to here.
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On the left, a sample pop-up claiming you must pay a fine to the FBI, and on the right, a sample pop-up claiming that you have a security issue (usually claiming it's a virus). The pop-ups will typically start out with "Suspicious activity detected," and will usually only have an "OK" button
Some of these pop-ups are fairly easy to recognize as scams. For example, you are using Safari and you come across a pop-up that says Chrome is infected. Some even say that you have a Windows security issue, when you are clearly using macOS.
Note that you should try the steps below in sequence, and can stop after you find one that works for you. Also note that if this occurs on your computer, and you see pop-ups like this repeatedly, you may have adware.
What are These Pop-ups?
Either you visited a compromised/hacked website, or a website that displays ads from an ad distribution network that includes the scam website. Once on the scam website, the webpage's script will invoke a JavaScript alert which displays this message. The webpage's script is set up so that the alert will just keep reappearing infinitely whenever you click "OK" on the pop-up. Because this is a browser "alert" and not an actual "window," most pop-up blockers will not stop these scams (you can read about ScamZapper, our Safari extension which is equipped to handle these scams, later on in this article). The good news is, this means that what you encountered is simply a scam webpage and not really malware, in spite of what the pop-up text claims - it's not caused by anything installed on your computer at all. The next sections will explain how to actually navigate away from and close these scam webpages.
If you are Using Safari 9.1 or Later
You can check which version of Safari you have by going to the menu bar and then clicking Safari > About Safari. In Safari 9.1 and later, the pop-up should look similar to this:
Pop-ups in Safari 9.1 or later will not lock up the browser, so you can still access the menu bar and other tabs. In this case, you can just click on the close tab 
icon next to the tab that is displaying the scam webpage.
icon next to the tab that is displaying the scam webpage. If you are Using Safari 6.2.7, 7.1.7, 8.0.7 or later, or Safari 9.0
Back in the Safari window, click on the "OK" button on the pop-up. If the pop-up reappears, you should now see a checkbox that says "Don't show more more alerts from this webpage." Check this box, and click "OK" on the pop-up. It should no longer reappear. Now, close the tab.
| First Occurrence of the Pop-up | Subsequent Occurrences of the Pop-up |
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If the pop-up went away after the first time and took you to a website, close the tab immediately, and if a download begins, move it to the trash from your Downloads folder. Once you get rid of the pop-up, if you are using OS X Mavericks (10.9) or later, we strongly recommend updating to the latest version of Safari, in which browser alert messages do not prevent you from closing the tab.
If you are Unable to Dismiss the pop-up
You might not be able to get rid of the pop-up if you:
- Are using an older version of Safari
- See a pop-up that does not have the "Don't show more alerts" checkbox
- See a pop-up that appears in the form of an authentication or "log in" dialog (learn more below)
Some of these scammers have adapted to the Safari update by adding several extra lines to the pop-up so that the checkbox is below the bottom of the screen. If you see a pop-up like this, or if you have an older version of Safari, please try the steps below to get rid of the pop-up. Once you get rid of the pop-up, we strongly recommend updating Safari, if possible. Users of OS X Mountain Lion (10.8) can update to Safari 8, which makes it somewhat easier to deal with these pop-ups, as discussed in the last section. Users of OS X Mavericks (10.9) or later can update to an even newer version of Safari in which these pop-ups will not lock up the browser at all, as discussed in the first section.
You might also see a pop-up like this:
The scammers started using these authentication dialogs in an effort to bypass the technologies introduced in Safari 9.1 that prevent JavaScript alerts from locking up the browser. They decided to start using authentication prompts instead, as they still lock up Safari and require acknowledgement before you can take any other action in the browser. Just like the traditional scam which uses an alert window, clicking any button, or entering anything in the text fields, will just bring the pop-up back. You can use the below steps to get rid of it.
Close the Tab
Though you will probably have to quit Safari, you can first try closing the tab by pressing Command + W. Most pop-ups of this variety will prevent closing the tab, but it is worth a try. If you see a scam in the form of an authentication dialog as described above, pressing the return and and then immediately pressing Command + W might work, as there is a short delay while the drop-down animation for the prompt window loads.
Quit Safari
Often, these pop-ups will not go away by attempting to close the tab, as mentioned above, nor by clicking "OK" or "Cancel." Furthermore, several menus in the menu bar may become disabled and show in gray, including the option to quit Safari. You will likely have to force quit Safari. To do this, press Command ⌘ + option + esc, select Safari, and press Force Quit.
Relaunch Safari
If you relaunch Safari, the page will reopen. To prevent this from happening, hold down the 'Shift' key while launching Safari. This will prevent windows that were open the last time Safari was running from reopening. This will not work in all cases. The shift key must be held at the right time, and even if done correctly, occasionally the window reopens. Even if the shift key trick works, it will prevent all windows from reopening, and you may have other tabs open that you do not want to lose. If so, try the suggestion below.
Disconnect from the Internet
After force quitting Safari, turn off Wi-Fi in the upper right of the macOS menu bar or disconnect the Ethernet cable, depending on how you connect to the Internet. Then relaunch Safari normally. It will try to reload the malicious webpage, but without a connection, it won't be able to. Navigate away from that page by entering a different URL, i.e. www.apple.com, and trying to load it. You could also try closing the tab if you had multiple tabs open. Now you can reconnect to the Internet, and the page you entered will appear rather than the malicious one.
None of this Worked!
If pressing Command + W does not work, and force quitting Safari and restarting the application with the Shift key held down does not get rid of the pop-up, you will have to reset Safari. Normally, this can be done by launching Safari, going to the menu bar, and then clicking Safari > Reset Safari. However, most pop-ups of this variety will block access to many of the drop-down menus in the menu bar. You will need to locate the file specified below on the computer and move it to the trash. Make sure you quit Safari first (force quit if necessary).
To start, open Finder. Then press Command ⌘ + Shift + G, or in the menu bar, select Go > Go to Folder. Type the following file path:
~/Library/Preferences
It is important to include the tilde (~) symbol, as this represents the path to your user directory. Now, look for a file named com.apple.Safari.plist, and drag it to the trash. Then restart your Mac. After it reboots, try launching Safari. A new preferences file should have been automatically created, so no more action is required on your part, and the pop-up should now be gone.
Another file you can try removing (in OS X Lion (10.7) or later) if the problem is still not resolved is com.apple.Safari.savedState, which can be found in:
~/Library/Saved Application State
If removing the above files still didn't solve your problem, one last file to try removing is named LastSession.plist. It is found in:
~/Library/Safari
The Source of the Scam
In addition to the FBI scam, there are webpages with bogus technical support pop-ups or "security alerts," claiming you have a virus as described earlier. These webpages include but are not limited to:
| macsecurityissue.com | iosissue.xyz | applesecurityalert.com | com-internet-security-review.review |
| sysonlinesafeties.net | mac-system-alerts.com | helpmesupport.today | safari-secure.info |
| newsofware.com | apple-care-warning.com | safaricontact-help.com | macsecurities-alert.com |
| alertsmaconline.com | computervirusdetected.club | macsupporthelp.com | onlinemacsystemsupport.com |
| remotecomputertechhelp.info | mac-online-support.com | safari-home.com | online-mac-issues.com |
| interstech.info | com-officialmessage.com | iossecurityalert.com | system-protection.info |
| apple-secure.net | ios-mobile-alert.com | onlinesupportnetworks.com | tech-help-online-alert.com |
| mac-securities.com | apple-secured.info | contactpchelp.com | firewall-alert-triggered.com |
| detection-alert.in | com-privatemessage.com | systemsecurityalert.com | safari-code.net |
| pcsupportadviser.com | apple--computer--error--messsage.us | serving-sys.com | computer-warning.net |
| macbrowsersuspicious.com | browsersupportapp.com | browsesafemac.com | securityupdatealert.com |
| safari-net-help.com | applesecurity-alert.com | safari-issues.com | upgrader.xyz |
If you come across a pop-up like those described in this article and you do not see it listed above, please make a comment at the end of this article, and include the URL.
ScamZapper
Mac users: You can download our free Safari extension, ScamZapper, to prevent sites responsible for such pop-ups from loading in the first place. See this page to learn more: ScamZapper. Please note that ScamZapper is not an ad blocker - it only blocks a certain kind of pop-up, like the ones mentioned in this article. Traditional pop-up or ad blockers typically do not catch these pop-ups. ScamZapper's corresponding application can also perform the above troubleshooting procedures for you if you are having trouble with them. Choose "Troubleshoot Pop-up" from the main menu to be taken through automated troubleshooting.
ScamZapper maintains a database of websites known to display these scams and will prevent them from loading, and version 2.0 and later also contain a technology which will block any page that meets a set of criteria that all of these scam webpages have in common.
If you encounter a pop-up like this, you should be able to close Safari by simply pressing the home button. If not, and you are using iOS 6 or earlier, try double pressing the home button, hold your finger on the Safari icon until it starts to jiggle, then tap the minus sign. In iOS 7 and later, after double pressing the home button, swipe upward on the screen showing Safari. This won't delete Safari, just force it to close. If that still does not work, hold the power button until you see "slide to power off" on the screen. Instead of powering off, release the power button and then hold the home button for around 5-6 seconds until you are returned to the home screen.
Once you have closed Safari, if you are using iOS 8 or later, go to Settings > Safari > Clear History and Website Data. In iOS 7 and earlier, the menu will read "Clear Cookies and Data." Clear History is a separate option, but you should not need to use that unless clearing the data did not solve your problem.
What if I Called the Number?
There may be cause for concern if you were not aware this was a scam and called the number in the pop-up. If you gave them your credit card information, you should call your bank as soon as possible, ask them to reverse the charge, and explain what happened to them, so they might consider blocking charges from the scammers altogether. If you are using an iOS device, the scammers probably just asked for money. If you are using a Mac, they probably asked for money, but also may have told you to install some software on your computer or give them remote access. There is no telling what that software might do, or what they might have done while they had access to your computer. (NOTE: You do not need to do any of the following unless the scammers installed anything on your computer - the pop-up alone is not a cause for concern about compromised data). If you are using OS X Lion (10.7) or later, reboot your Mac, and hold the Command ⌘ and R keys until you are taken to OS X's recovery partition. For earlier Mac OS X versions, insert the install disk that came with your Mac, and hold the C key while booting up your Mac.
If you made a Time Machine backup before you called the number, you can restore from that. Otherwise, the only way to be absolutely safe is to erase your hard drive (if you have important data that was not backed up, you can manually save these files to a flash drive, etc. before proceeding). In the Recovery partition, instead of selecting Time Machine, select Disk Utility. When it opens, select Macintosh HD (or whatever your partition is named) from the sidebar. Go to the Erase tab (it is one of the tabs near the top of the window), and click on "Erase" in the bottom right of the window.
Then, after the erase is done, you can set up macOS from scratch and not have to worry about the scammers.
It is important to note two things to identify scams like this going forward: 1) Apple will never tell you to contact them via a pop-up. 2) If you are being told to contact Apple, find the appropriate contact information at http://apple.com/contact, instead of using the number or email provided in a pop-up or a suspicious website or email.
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I have gone through the steps described and everything appears to be
normal again. When the bogus pop up came on, I would get a warning from
WOT (Web Of Trust) and it would give me an option to accept or decline
which worked quite well. Hopefully I won't be getting these any longer.
Thanks once again for your excellent advise/help.
in response to Pakawala
By dac on 10/30/14 • Reply
encountered same problem. given solution did not work. here is what did:
as soon as safari opens his "command+w" keys. this closes the active tab 😃
as soon as safari opens his "command+w" keys. this closes the active tab 😃
in response to dac
By AppleClubSupport on 10/30/14 • Reply
Hi dac, this was already included in our article:
"Though you will probably have to quit Safari, you can first try closing the tab by pressing Command + W."
in response to dac
By Sholdenried on 12/28/14 • Reply
Only action that worked for me
Commnd+w
Thank you!
Commnd+w
Thank you!
By Larissa on 11/01/14 • Reply
Thank you!!!! You were more helpful than apple care!
By Felice on 11/12/14 • Reply
Thank you all for taking the time to help me,,,,,,wish you all the best..
By kyokum on 11/13/14 • Reply
Thanks so much! I got it (instants-pc-fix.com) from faceage.com
By BizArtMusic on 11/19/14 • Reply
mac-system-alerts.com in URL
No com.apple.Safari.plist file visible
No com.apple.Safari.plist file visible
in response to BizArtMusic
By AppleClubSupport on 11/19/14 • Reply
Did you try the other suggestions first? If they didn't work, then note that the Library folder which contains the file you're looking for is hidden by default, that's why you need to type in "~/Library" in Finder's Go to Folder window. Be sure to include the "~" symbol, which represents the file path to your user folder.
By derbyden on 11/22/14 • Reply
Isn't there some way to make it unattractive for companies like this to
put unwanted, hard-to-kill pop-ups on our browser windows? I might be
willing to sign up for a revenge service that sends them a million bogus
requests per day and calls their toll-free numbers with useless
recordings!
By Tami on 12/03/14 • Reply
Great advice! Many thanks. Searched first with Chrome to find the
article since Safari was out of commission. I used the library route.
By maxfetter on 12/06/14 • Reply
Greatest Idea Ever For App
By zardhakjedge on 12/07/14 • Reply
I've had a lot of troubles lately, pop up windows reoccuring very often
as soon as I browse the web, message WINDOWS FIREWALL WARNING their name
is, supposedly, ''instants-pc-fix.com''. They ask to call this phoney
phone nr : 877 404-4030 (?) Difficult to get rid of 'em.
By Holly on 12/09/14 • Reply
Thanks very much for the helpful information. Shift + relaunch worked
for me. Here's the nasty little bugger that I encountered:
http://macibr-flavor.com.
By Nutshell on 12/14/14 • Reply
I have followed your advice about dragging the plist file to the trash
and restarting the computer. But when I then launch Safari I am still
getting the annoying popups! Any further suggestions?
You said "popups," plural? This article is for a specific kind of pop-up, the kind the locks up Safari and claims that your computer is infected. If you are experiencing multiple pop-ups that you get redirected to when visiting other sites, and see pop-ups for software such as MacKeeper, this could be due to adware installed on your computer. Please describe more what you're seeing.
By Merlin on 12/18/14 • Reply
Thank you so very much for your tip. In my haste I did not think of the
"disable Wi-Fi and reopen Safari" option. That was the key for me. Thank
you!!
By ScurredStraight! on 12/18/14 • Reply
I got a popup that said, " Chrome Alert.
"Suspicious Activity Detected. Chrome may get stuck as an anonymous activity has found. To fix, please call our Support at 888-476-6746 (Toll Free) immediately."
After reading this article, I pressed the shift key and relaunched Safari. Problem solved. Thanks!
"Suspicious Activity Detected. Chrome may get stuck as an anonymous activity has found. To fix, please call our Support at 888-476-6746 (Toll Free) immediately."
After reading this article, I pressed the shift key and relaunched Safari. Problem solved. Thanks!
By Kato on 12/19/14 • Reply
So glad I found this. Safari was completely frozen/hijacked. The Safari
Alert popup came from a2ztech.us with the number 1-888-315-9643. didn't
bother calling because I knew it was a scam/hostage thing. I had to
delete the Safari plist file>reboot>restart Safari holding the
shift key. The latter is VERY important. Otherwise you have to start
over.
Thanks for the help!
Thanks for the help!
By cherry on 12/20/14 • Reply
Thanks, I knew the pop up had only affected safari as i could do other
things on my mac, doing the things listed in this article got me back up
and running again. Big thanks
By Marjorie on 12/23/14 • Reply
Hi, thanks for your article. I got the pop-up instants-pc-fix.com and it
says my computer was infected. I didn't know what to do so I just
closed my mac with the power button and since that it never came back.
Is it alright or should I do something more? Thanks!
There's nothing else you need to do. Just be sure you don't visit the website that redirected you to instants-pc-fix.com.
By d1u1b on 12/23/14 • Reply
safarianalyzer.windowsdesk.net
has one of these malicious popups
has one of these malicious popups
By PSPDOWNLOAD Hack on 12/26/14 • Reply
So far, so good! I picked up a forced download pop up screen for
"dl.pspvideodownloaupdate". A pop up showing the Safari icon but with
no "X" (close) options appeared while doing a Google image search. I had
clicked on a video link and was making choices too quickly! After
several attempts to restart Safari I decided to make the nuclear option
and update the OS to Yosemite. No luck: It worked for a bit then the pop
up demon came back. I found this article using my iPad and dumped the
plist as suggested and all is well so far. Thanks to all.
in response to PSPDOWNLOAD Hack
By ferox3 on 1/20/15 • Reply
I had the same psp popup as you, also while doing an image search. All better now, though. YAY, this guy!
By pam from ABQ on 12/27/14 • Reply
online-mac-issues.com is the url that appeared on my mac.
Thanks for your help.
Thanks for your help.
By joyful on 12/29/14 • Reply
THANK YOU, thank you!!! This was the most helpful article I found online, and following your instructions fixed my issue!
I had a strange popup from a website called "appsom1" trying to force me to download MplayerX. Holding down the shift key while opening Safari finally released my Mac from this nasty stranglehold. Thanks again!
I had a strange popup from a website called "appsom1" trying to force me to download MplayerX. Holding down the shift key while opening Safari finally released my Mac from this nasty stranglehold. Thanks again!
in response to joyful
By AppleClubSupport on 12/29/14 • Reply
You're welcome. Glad it helped you get Safari working again.
Do you recall the exact URL of the webpage that was trying to get you to download MplayerX? The domain is "appsom1.com," but there is usually a page within this domain, for example "appsom1.com/popup.php," which hosts the malicious prompt. We need to know this in order to verify that the page is actually malicious before we add it to our article. It you can't remember, don't worry.
By Sabes on 12/29/14 • Reply
Thank you!!! I found it simplest to just turn off wifi, force-quit and
restart Safari. I could only get a screenshot of the link, as it tried
to shut down all functions until I downloaded their update. I've
retyped it here:
[no http]bacibr-flavor.com/mac/ibr-3/flash-update-3844267sub_id=009084880017771922949
[no http]bacibr-flavor.com/mac/ibr-3/flash-update-3844267sub_id=009084880017771922949
By derp on 1/02/15 • Reply
OMG THANK YOU SO MUCH I WAS SCARED OUT OF MY LIFE
I'm only 12 omg
I'm only 12 omg
By mcaliente999 on 1/03/15 • Reply
interstech.info is a new pop-up
in response to mcaliente999
By AppleClubSupport on 1/03/15 • Reply
Thanks for reporting this! We've added it.
By Irina Z on 1/03/15 • Reply
I've got this pop-up: http://chromewarning.windowsdesk.net
By Irina Z on 1/03/15 • Reply
The article was extremely helpful! Pressing the Shift key while opening Safari fixed the issue. Thank you!
By thessler3 on 1/04/15 • Reply
this worked to clear a hostage site from Safari on my ipad. thank you very much.
By Worked4Me on 1/04/15 • Reply
Holding down 'Shift' while opening Safari worked great. Pop-up gave me
one option - 'Ok' to go to their site. Quit Safari, rebooted, nothing
worked.
Sorry I could not grab the URL 'izzy' something.
Great job - thank you.
Sorry I could not grab the URL 'izzy' something.
Great job - thank you.
in response to Worked4Me
By AppleClubSupport on 1/07/15 • Reply
If you see something like this again, you can press Command + shift + 3 to take a screenshot of the entire screen, so you can get the URL after you're able to close the pop-up.
By WarningScam CorpCom on 1/04/15 • Reply
window pop up said chromebrowser/windowsdesk.net
hate this crap!
hate this crap!
By bd on 1/07/15 • Reply
This just happened to me and this was super helpful. thank you so much.
By Cegan on 1/10/15 • Reply
i just received an error on my MacBook Air "your browsing has been
blocked to prevent your personal data passwords, credit card info,
banking info etc call 1-844-780-6788....
By KPB4Ever on 1/10/15 • Reply
This article showed me exactly what to do to when a pop up tried to
force me to download "Download manager" from skyvideoplayer.com. I
couldn't close out of Safari!!!! and I couldn't figure out how to get
the pop up off my screen. Force quit using the keys on the keyboard
worked for me. THank you!!!
By nonevah on 1/10/15 • Reply
Another one i found -- url4short.info . I already had some idea of how
to get away from bogus safari alerts, so I got away, but...
(I'd been to a non-malicious site where the author had a bad habit of rudely using safari alerts to make sure you read through something; I eventually figured out how to escape the trap if i accidentally visited the page and didn't feel like going through the whole thing again. Must thank the guy, it was good training for the future!)
(I'd been to a non-malicious site where the author had a bad habit of rudely using safari alerts to make sure you read through something; I eventually figured out how to escape the trap if i accidentally visited the page and didn't feel like going through the whole thing again. Must thank the guy, it was good training for the future!)
By shan on 1/11/15 • Reply
Thank you!!!! You were more helpful than apple care!
thanks thanks thanks thanks
thanks thanks thanks thanks
By FRUSTRATED TILL SAVED BY U on 1/11/15 • Reply
I HAD A POP UP THAT MADE MY COMPUTER IFROZEN AND THE ONLY WAY WOULD HAVE
BENN TO CHECK "OK" AND CONTINUE-NO WAY TO X OUT WAS PROVIDED.
I TRIED EACH SUGGESTED FIX WITH NO LUCK. FINALLY THE LAST ONE WHERE YOU GO TO FINDER, ~LIBRARIE/PREFERENCES... AND YOU DRAG THE SAFARI PREFERENCE IN TO THE TRASH CAN-THAT WORKED.
ONE HINT: WHEN I CLOSED DOWN THE COMPUTER IT ASKED IF I WANTED TO KEEP THE REMAINING WINDOWS OPEN THE FIRST TIME I CHOSE YES AND THE BLASTED POP UP RETURNED. I REPEATED THE PROCESS AGAIN AND ANSWERED "NO: AND THEN IT FINALLY LET GO! THANK GOODNESS! AND THANK YOU FOR THE HELP! BOTH TIMES THE POP UP APPEARED WHEN I MIS-SPELLED GMAIL.
I TRIED EACH SUGGESTED FIX WITH NO LUCK. FINALLY THE LAST ONE WHERE YOU GO TO FINDER, ~LIBRARIE/PREFERENCES... AND YOU DRAG THE SAFARI PREFERENCE IN TO THE TRASH CAN-THAT WORKED.
ONE HINT: WHEN I CLOSED DOWN THE COMPUTER IT ASKED IF I WANTED TO KEEP THE REMAINING WINDOWS OPEN THE FIRST TIME I CHOSE YES AND THE BLASTED POP UP RETURNED. I REPEATED THE PROCESS AGAIN AND ANSWERED "NO: AND THEN IT FINALLY LET GO! THANK GOODNESS! AND THANK YOU FOR THE HELP! BOTH TIMES THE POP UP APPEARED WHEN I MIS-SPELLED GMAIL.
By tas on 1/12/15 • Reply
Thank you, thank you, thank you! Bless you!
By Mac and iPhone user on 1/12/15 • Reply
Thank you
By Arrwaj on 1/12/15 • Reply
SAVED. MY. LIFE. I watched so many videos and been on many websites and I
was about to give up and freaking out about going to Apple [...] BUT THANK
YOU.
[Edited by moderator]
By As on 1/16/15 • Reply
None of these have worked for me which is weird since it's worked for
everyone else. I try moving the file to trash and restart, but whenever I
restart safari it still opens up with the same pop-up that "suspicious
activity is detected, call toll free" and the file is back in finder.
Any ideas??
in response to As
By AppleClubSupport on 1/16/15 • Reply
Hi As,
Did you try all three of the other suggestions- Command + W; force quit and hold Shift; quit, turn off Wi-Fi, and relaunch Safari? If so, there is another file you could try removing, and it can be found in ~/Library/Saved Application State/com.apple.Safari.savedState. Drag that whole folder to the trash and restart again.
By judiK on 1/18/15 • Reply
My poor husband--he has been complaining about these symptoms since
mid-December as he was shopping . . . and I just now have examined what
he's complaining about. I think he had been suckered into many clicks
and has several of these Safari popup scams befuddling him. I took all
the instructions offered here and spent about an hour executing them,
over and over and over. It seems there are still two or three popups
that have survived my best efforts. For now, I'm just telling him to try
to remember to use Firefox. I'm pretty Mac savvy, but have never run up
against this challenge. Phew! Any further suggestions? Can I delete
Safari completely and reinstall?
By judiK on 1/18/15 • Reply
Just saw this last suggestion: "it can be found in ~/Library/Saved
Application State/com.apple.Safari.savedState. Drag that whole folder to
the trash and restart again." I'll go trash the folder and try again.
The symptoms you describe don't sound like the typical JavaScript browser hijack that this article addresses. It's entirely possible that the culprit is some form of adware. Try scanning for adware with AdwareMedic: http://adwaremedic.com/index.php. Let us know if it finds anything.
in response to AppleClubSupport
By judiK on 1/18/15 • Reply
I'll go give your suggestion a try. I can't even get the Safari browser
to go to google.com! Evon the apple.com website, a subtle line of code
at the top left has a rolling # of sentences also, with little URLs
after them.
I tried the STATE throw away and it didn't work. Off to try adaware.
Thank you for your clear advice(s). Another thought--in preferences Excel and Powerpoint, there are plist files that had their last uses today. Could this be coming through via MSO?
Onward
I tried the STATE throw away and it didn't work. Off to try adaware.
Thank you for your clear advice(s). Another thought--in preferences Excel and Powerpoint, there are plist files that had their last uses today. Could this be coming through via MSO?
Onward
in response to AppleClubSupport
By judiK on 1/18/15 • Reply
Thanks again for the suggestions. I downloaded and ran adawaremedic.com
and I had a long list of things to remove. If you want a copy of that
list, I could send it to you. It also suggested throwing away and
downloading/installing Firefox, so I that, too.
Looks like adawaremedic removed something called Trovi in the list. Also Buca Apps had 12 related files. Downlite had 4 files. Conduit had 5 files.
Looks like adawaremedic removed something called Trovi in the list. Also Buca Apps had 12 related files. Downlite had 4 files. Conduit had 5 files.
in response to AppleClubSupport
By judiK on 1/18/15 • Reply
OK--I'll go donate to adawaremedic.com now, espeically if it has vanquished all that was blocking everything.
If you want a screen shot of everything that was deleted, please let me know via email.
If you want a screen shot of everything that was deleted, please let me know via email.
in response to judiK
By AppleClubSupport on 1/18/15 • Reply
That's okay, just glad to hear you got Safari working again!
By Eric on 1/19/15 • Reply
Thank you for this. After fighting this for several weeks I called them
and read them the riot act. His advise was to pay someone to fix my
computer. I told him I know how to do that what I wanted to know was how
to remove his illegal advertizing from my computer. He wanted to have
remote access I said no he asked why I told him I don't trust you he
said if "If you don't trust me we have a problem" I said "no I will only
have a proble if I trust you.
I tried your solution it looks like it worked --- thank you. The pop up I received was: Http://mac-alerts.com
I tried your solution it looks like it worked --- thank you. The pop up I received was: Http://mac-alerts.com
By conway on 1/20/15 • Reply
wow. thank you. im on a tight deadline and this pop up was making me nuts. thanks so much. you saved my ***!
By Alex M on 1/20/15 • Reply
iossecurityalert.com is another scam domain of the same.
By Karibo on 1/22/15 • Reply
computersystemalert.com
By anonymous on 1/23/15 • Reply
A scam alert popped-up stating my computer has been infected with a
virus when I visited www.wewather.com . I was trying to reach
weather.com but typed the url incorrectly. Thank you for this article
reinforcing what I intuitively knew.
By dkdelrey on 1/24/15 • Reply
Thanks a lot! it's been awhile I have been looking for a solution to this problem. You've been a good help! keep it up! Thanks!
By Lalya on 1/25/15 • Reply
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I called Apple Support and they were
going to make me pay $30 just to help me. I quickly did a google search
and found this article to get help for my ipad. Issue fixed!
By TN on 1/26/15 • Reply
Thanks so much. My wife's computer got this virus and your instructions
were able to clear it off right away. You're a life saver. God bless.
By jr on 1/28/15 • Reply
Thank you! I found this on Chrome while Safari was hijacked and, like
others, found it to be the most helpful. I had tried updating both
Safari AND my Mac's security software while this was happening, but the
popup didn't go away. Shift while restarting Safari did the trick.
Should I still delete files or does it seem like it's done once you've
restarted safely?
I believe the site which caused it was something like radarmp3. The popup said it was applehelp.net (I didn't see this on your domain list) and included a 1-844 number to call. That's all the info I have.
I believe the site which caused it was something like radarmp3. The popup said it was applehelp.net (I didn't see this on your domain list) and included a 1-844 number to call. That's all the info I have.
You do not need to perform additional steps outlined in this article once you get to one that solves your issue.
We can't find any page on the applehelp.net domain that triggers a pop-up like this. Unfortunately, if you cannot remember the exact URL, we won't be able to add it to the list. This is just a precaution to make sure we do not add a legitimate website to the list.
in response to AppleClubSupport
By jr on 1/28/15 • Reply
Thank you again. I just checked my history and this was the URL that showed up under the popup: http://www.applehelp.net/error14065689efmnwqpr123789245wplatpewbkac789127423525741397wpmwikzbdebvalue
parsingerror.php
But that only happened after I had been to another site. This page appeared just before the "hacking" popup above (I've only deleted the filename at the end):
http://adf.ly/8328746/http://radarmp3.com/player.php?fid=o79WYIYcRAw
Again, much appreciated!
in response to jr
By AppleClubSupport on 1/28/15 • Reply
Thank you very much for the additional information! We'll add this to our list and our ScamZapper extension.
By Sriba on 1/29/15 • Reply
The website contactpchelp.com is another micro popup scam site that
managed to get into my iphone. Thank you for the iOS instructions to
help me get rid of it.
By Potato on 1/30/15 • Reply
Wow thanks so much! This was very useful, it got rid of the pop up in less than 1 minute!
By jlw on 2/02/15 • Reply
THANK YOU! the last option finally worked for me with the
"softareupdaterlp.com. Wasted 3 hrs of my time last night. I was using
my iphone to try to find info, as I'd also let me IPad Battery
completely die & was also trying to get that to work. I even went so
far as to sign up for the Genius Bar, not ez to do using just an iPhone.
By dsh301 on 2/03/15 • Reply
What would happen if you actually called the number that the pop up tells you to?
in response to dsh301
By AppleClubSupport on 2/03/15 • Reply
They will either tell you to pay them a lot of money to remove the imaginary "virus," and/or ask you to give them remote access to your computer. If you gave them access and/or they installed anything on your computer, you should consider it compromised, and the only way to be absolutely safe is to erase your drive.
By Amy L on 2/04/15 • Reply
THANK YOU! Last option worked after trying all the others. Different
URL, though.
macbrowseralerts.com/index.html?utm_source=semtwo&utm_medium=24678&utm_campaign=Camp1-USA-MAC
By BRadioman on 2/05/15 • Reply
Thank you!! Much better than ANYTHING... and most def better than
anything from Apple. I have a MacBook Pro - and Safari is part of the
operating system, so I couldn't just remove Safari and reinstall it.
This was so simple a solution - I had to go into the folder through
finder and delete the file... thank you thank you thank you - was
looking for a solution for over a day... got the infection from clicking
on a Facebook friend's article... not an ad - so this snuck up on me...
very stealth...
By bob.s. on 2/08/15 • Reply
softwarethrold.net pop up.
after opening safari, pressing command W solved the problem.
after opening safari, pressing command W solved the problem.
By PowerMove on 2/09/15 • Reply
http://online-mac-issues.com/popup/
Had to quit Safari and reopen with Shift Key
Had to quit Safari and reopen with Shift Key
By katinthehat on 2/09/15 • Reply
I have gone through these steps and deleted the files many times,
restarted my computer. When I open Safari again everything is okay, but
after a few minutes the pop up comes back, how do I get rid of it
permanently?
Are you visiting the same website each time you launch Safari? If so, it could be that the particular website is malicious or has been hacked to redirect to that pop-up. If not, it could be that your wireless router has been hacked into. A temporary solution would be to download our ScamZapper Safari extension, which will stop the pop-up page from loading so you don't have to force quit Safari and you can continue browsing. We can offer additional suggestions if you can answer the question about the webpage.
By Mary on 2/09/15 • Reply
Hi... I got this error message on my iPad, so I shut down, rebooted and
went into my settings to clear internet history. Now i cannot connect
to my wifi. I even cleared my wifi history and manually typed in the
password, but it is not working. I just get that "connecting" spinning
wheel thing like it's trying to connect, but won't. Any suggestions.
Try going to Settings > General > Reset > Reset Network Settings.
in response to AppleClubSupport
By Mary on 2/09/15 • Reply
Thank you! I've been pulling my hair out over it, but finally got it.
I had to reset everything including restarting my router and manually
entering my router info and password. It definitely started with that
"suspicious" error message, though.
in response to Mary
By Pookerella on 3/18/15 • Reply
Easy, just close Safari and open an app that will open a tab in Safari,
like Facebook. It will open the link in FB, so just use the up arrow in a
box on the upper right and ask to "open in Safari." Once you do that,
it will redirect you away from the hijack tab. Open the "stack" and
delete the hijacked tab.
By Edgar on 2/09/15 • Reply
Found this site
http://galleryhip.com/lent-2014-calendar.html
it will change your starting page to a scam site
http://galleryhip.com/lent-2014-calendar.html
it will change your starting page to a scam site
By jasG. on 2/10/15 • Reply
You must FIRST disconnect your computer from the internet and then
relaunch "Safari" then and ONLY then will you be able to delete the
OFFENDING PAGE!!! I did all above with much success and am very pleased
with the result. Just follow the instructions...
REMEMBER ONCE THOSE FILES ARE DELETED, BACK UP YOUR COMPUTER JUST INCASE!
REMEMBER ONCE THOSE FILES ARE DELETED, BACK UP YOUR COMPUTER JUST INCASE!
By topaz on 2/10/15 • Reply
Tks for the great information, it worked!
By Marcus on 2/11/15 • Reply
Oh man, it would be sweeeet if a hacker out there could hack them
These safari pop ups saying my system is in trouble are very irritating.
They are tough to get around. If anyone out their could somehow get these *** holes!!!!!!!!! they would be heroes. So please hackers anyone who can please get these people. [...] Its like having someone break into your home, and be powerless to get them out [...] Thats really the most important thing, just knowing they got what was coming to them.
They are tough to get around. If anyone out their could somehow get these *** holes!!!!!!!!! they would be heroes. So please hackers anyone who can please get these people. [...] Its like having someone break into your home, and be powerless to get them out [...] Thats really the most important thing, just knowing they got what was coming to them.
[Edited by moderator]
By kcros on 2/11/15 • Reply
www.404-errors.info is another one with the apple number to call listed
as 1-855-267-4256. Holding shift while restarting Safari worked. Thanks!
By 420 on 2/12/15 • Reply
http://inmessagealert.com/50r/ here is another have to close safari i hope scamzapper is good thanks
Since we developed ScamZapper, we're biased, but we think it's good! 😄 The scam webpage you encountered is already in ScamZapper's database along with dozens of others, and it is updated every few days, so you shouldn't have to deal with too many pop-ups like that again.
By spolitte on 2/12/15 • Reply
I get one that says http://www.safari-issues.com
Safari-Alert
Suspicious Activity Might Have been Detected
Major Security Issue
To fix it please call Support for Apple
+1 866-220-3740 (Toll Free)
immediately!
Safari-Alert
Suspicious Activity Might Have been Detected
Major Security Issue
To fix it please call Support for Apple
+1 866-220-3740 (Toll Free)
immediately!
in response to gb
By AppleClubSupport on 2/13/15 • Reply
Never heard of them, but if they are responsible for a pop-up like this, they are absolutely NOT legit.
By Thank You on 2/12/15 • Reply
"download.com-link"
I can't remember exactly, but the name is close to the website that says "The last website you visited has infected your mac" I certainly don't want to try to find the website.
Thank you so much for the information and help.
I can't remember exactly, but the name is close to the website that says "The last website you visited has infected your mac" I certainly don't want to try to find the website.
Thank you so much for the information and help.
By Frstratd on 2/13/15 • Reply
Thank you so much for your article! I have been helping my daughter
find a fix for a virus and your solution worked! We appreciate it SO
MUCH!
By thebutterflyer on 2/14/15 • Reply
http://mac-pc-alerts.com
By Abukova on 2/14/15 • Reply
Holding the SHIFT key on restart worked for me with this popup, many thanks.
http://hjhjhg.alphapvribbon.net/violations/XXC4DoOxATjv0DwDMbmqWXAZc9ssoOyZy7dCaKgfgrTIttqBHYDuCWr0lZemk0Kg-qbY/UIv8w_/S9Mcu1IcLKMw~~/NzZhYjBlYjk4MWEwOGVkMGViY2RkZWY4MGYxYWQ0NWU/federal-crime.phtml
http://hjhjhg.alphapvribbon.net/violations/XXC4DoOxATjv0DwDMbmqWXAZc9ssoOyZy7dCaKgfgrTIttqBHYDuCWr0lZemk0Kg-qbY/UIv8w_/S9Mcu1IcLKMw~~/NzZhYjBlYjk4MWEwOGVkMGViY2RkZWY4MGYxYWQ0NWU/federal-crime.phtml
By rivbone on 2/15/15 • Reply
This was completely precise and accurate advise. I had to go all the way
to the last step--deleting to TRASH a file from safari/plist. But it
worked. And no doubt the scammers wanted to set up a dual computer
monitoring session so they could get anything they wanted from my
computer. Bravo!!!
By melissa on 2/16/15 • Reply
Thank you so much!!! I was freaking out and this worked perfectly:)
By crazyhorse on 2/16/15 • Reply
managed to "beat the popup to the punch" by having the cursor placed
exactly on the red delete button and pressed it before page could grab
hold after quitting Safari and relaunching. Wished I'd found your page
before spending hours freaking out. You are now bookmarked and I have
actually used pen and paper; yeh, they still exist, and wrote ALL this
down. I'm ready for 'em next time! Thank you SO VERY MUCH for for being
there for us computer illiterates!
By mactic on 2/17/15 • Reply
another website pop-up is mac-notify.com. Similar to the others, pop-up
gives warning of suspicious activity, with number to call to get it
fixed. this one also hijacks the default homepage, setting it to a bogus
Google search page. Renders Safari almost completely useless.
By Mac user 76 on 2/17/15 • Reply
Awesome thank you so much. This has been happening the past year and
I've had re install my OS a dozen times and in between I've been afraid
to browse online. Thanks again you're the best!
By kas on 2/17/15 • Reply
Thank you so much! Using the shift key worked for me the first time. Whew!
By mclea on 2/18/15 • Reply
what if i am the stupid one that didn't figure out this was a scam of
some kind and didn't find this article and actually called the
number....what is going to happen to my computer? and information?
in response to mclea
By AppleClubSupport on 2/18/15 • Reply
You're not stupid! These jerks can be very deceptive.
I assume that when you called, they asked you to install software or connect to a webpage that allowed them to have full access to your computer. In that case, the only way to be safe would be to erase your hard drive and start from scratch. Back up important data first.
in response to AppleClubSupport
By JocieKatB95 on 2/19/15 • Reply
Really glad I am not the only one who called the number...I didn't know what else to do! When I called someone just told me to power down the iPad and leave it off for 5-10 minutes. When I did I was able to shut down that window. I tried running the AdwareMedic but it says Safari won't download it! Am I okay?
in response to JocieKatB95
By AppleClubSupport on 2/19/15 • Reply
AdwareMedic is an application for OS X, not for iOS devices like the iPad. This problem is not caused by adware anyway. Since the person you talked to did not ask you to install anything, you are safe, and there is no known spyware affecting iOS. The only thing you have to worry about is if you paid them money. You should talk to your bank and ask them to reverse the charge.
in response to AppleClubSupport
By mdcrusie on 5/18/15 • Reply
I called and the asked for my name and number. The guy remote logged in to my computer and looked at all my sleeping files. I didn't feel comfortable so I kicked him out. Do you think he put something on my computer?
in response to mdcrusie
By AppleClubSupport on 5/18/15 • Reply
Since you stopped the session, no, I don't think so, but did you remove the software they used to remotely connect to your computer?
By mac user on 2/19/15 • Reply
WideOpenWest pop up, asked us to call their number to solve 'security risk.'
By mac lover on 2/21/15 • Reply
Thanks a ton...that worked for me...😊
By anth0ny on 2/22/15 • Reply
force quit + reopen while holding "shift" worked PERFECTLY. thank you.
By Gino on 2/22/15 • Reply
VERY INTELLIGENT, SEEMINGLY HONEST, AND PRACTICAL ARTICLE. I am a past
Mac Technician (now retired), and have not seen a subject handled so
comprehensively. I used to belong to my local Apple Club years ago, and
will support your organization now.
THANK YOU SO MUCH for narrowing down my choices to attack this problem on my Mac Mini OSX 10.9.5 Maverick!
THANK YOU SO MUCH for narrowing down my choices to attack this problem on my Mac Mini OSX 10.9.5 Maverick!
By lieber on 2/23/15 • Reply
This article was fantastic! I was able to get rid of the pop-up by holding down the Shift key while relaunching Safari.
Here's what the pop-up window on my laptop looked like:
http://www.404-errors.info
Security Error.
Call helpline 1-877-805-1029.
I googled that phone number and it has been used in many scams.
Here's what the pop-up window on my laptop looked like:
http://www.404-errors.info
Security Error.
Call helpline 1-877-805-1029.
I googled that phone number and it has been used in many scams.
By Nicole on 2/25/15 • Reply
Another one to watch out for is something.media4.netdna-can.com.
By Mikeabi1 on 2/25/15 • Reply
I called and they told me to install rescue logmein rescue and i allowed
them to get remote access. THE GUY WAS A BOATER FROM INDIA and his name
was nick.. SHOULD OF KNOWN RIGHT THEN and there.. but anyways so he
went to spotlight and on my terminal and told me someone from nigeria
had compromised my laptop and that its not running as it should. i could
pay him 199.99 or go to the apple store for an additional 100. i said
no and hung up so now I'm worried about what they might have done during
the process of the remote access.. so this literally just happened 30
mins and I'm reading more into it. My question is so i deleted the app
and restarted my comp and looking to see traces of the logmein rescue
app and its all gone. besides reinstalling everything. is there any
other way?? giving him remote access compromised my laptop even though
it was for a no longer then 10 mins
Unfortunately, the only way to make sure you're safe is to do one of the procedures in the "What if I Called the Number?" section of this article: restore from a Time Machine backup made before access was given, or erase the drive.
By MacUser on 2/25/15 • Reply
Thank you so much! Shutting off Wi-Fi totally worked.
By Joelleamy on 2/25/15 • Reply
Thank you so much shift relaunch was the only thing that worked for me !
The one that got me was pccassists
The one that got me was pccassists
By Pemala on 2/27/15 • Reply
Fantastic ...much appreciation.
Worked perfectly
URL :macsecurityalert.net
Worked perfectly
URL :macsecurityalert.net
By Z1on on 2/27/15 • Reply
Absolutely awesome, was absolutely petrified I wouldn't be able to get
rid of this problem. Your solution worked first time. Good job;-)
By Kenmore on 2/27/15 • Reply
I accessed a website and received this message on my Macbook Pro. I
couldn't exit the page. Turned off my mac holding the off button far
too long. When I turned it back on this page appeared. I did call the
number, listed, but called from my lan line. Within a second, I hung
up.
http://techwhizz.com.au/scam-alert
Suspicious connection was trying to access your system security network and banking file. System detected security error - your hard drive may have Trojan. Call 1844-252-0932 Toll Free
http://techwhizz.com.au/scam-alert
Suspicious connection was trying to access your system security network and banking file. System detected security error - your hard drive may have Trojan. Call 1844-252-0932 Toll Free
By jns on 2/27/15 • Reply
Thank you! The Shift + relaunch worked for me. www.pcassists.info
By Dradj on 2/28/15 • Reply
Got a Safari window from "eezdownloads.com" with the following message:
**VIRUS FOUND**
**VIRUS FOUND**
**The last website you visited has infected your Mac with a virus.**
**Press OK to begin the repair process.**
I didn't press OK, but force quit. Your solution to hold down the shift key while restarting Safari worked a treat--thanks!
**Press OK to begin the repair process.**
I didn't press OK, but force quit. Your solution to hold down the shift key while restarting Safari worked a treat--thanks!
By JimmyStone on 3/02/15 • Reply
please add pcassists.info to the list. another scam site.
By Jk on 3/04/15 • Reply
GOD BLESS YOU
By WC on 3/05/15 • Reply
Everything has worked so far. But for some reason it will not let me
setup my homepage. It allows me to type it in but does not pull up when
I open safari. Thanks. Any suggestions
What happens when you open Safari - what page loads? Sometimes, in addition to this malicious pop-up, the website you visited that caused the problem will also download and install adware. See the "Adware" section of this article.
By Deb on 3/05/15 • Reply
Kudos! Excellent! Well done! Congrats! Carry on!
By Taher on 3/05/15 • Reply
Got hijacked on my iPhone 6 Safari. Needless to say I was freaked. Then I
came to your article on the web. Followed your instructions and it
worked like a charm. Made no calls. Thank you. Great job!
By Jdancesmith on 3/06/15 • Reply
Thank You very much, this was a tremendous help for me!
By WorriedUser3 on 3/06/15 • Reply
This article helped me so much ! I went on this website and there were
like 4 popup windows trying to say i have a virus problem and i couldnt
use safari i tried opening safari with wifi off then i turned it on and
cleared all history so it worked im so happy never will i go on those
websites !
By Texan Gal on 3/08/15 • Reply
Thank you SO MUCH!!!!My safari browser was completely locked up with that pop up from ****.
Absolutely nothing worked, my options were greyed out and I couldn't access anything that wasn't the pop up's "OK" button. And even that just brought the pop up back in a split second. I couldn't get rid of the **** thing no matter what I tried.
Disconnecting wifi and relaunching safari while disconnected allowed me the chance to navigate away from the malicious website causing the problem. Reconnected wifi and BINGO, a perfectly operational web browser. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!
Your article saved my website-surfing butt!
By sgirl39 on 3/09/15 • Reply
projectfreetv.com don't go there!!!!!By Mck on 3/09/15 • Reply
Thank you holding down shift on restart worked!!By Sarah24h on 3/11/15 • Reply
Hey guys, can't thank you enough for your article. I did unfortunately
make the mistake of calling the number, but didn't give any of my
details and ended the call soon thereafter. Much appreciated.
By brookejean15 on 3/11/15 • Reply
Thank you so so so much!!! You just saved my life!!!By louisljones on 3/11/15 • Reply
Thank you SO much!!!! I had a pop up named "iodisk-err-Windows software"
Told me my Windows pc had become infected with adware virus.. Since I am using a Mac this definitely failed to fool me!
Thank you so much again helped so much!
By QStowell on 3/12/15 • Reply
Thanks for your clear advice which got us up and running again. By matt on 3/12/15 • Reply
This happend to me and I called the number and gave them access to my
computer, as they were on my computer I typed in the key words to the
pop up on my phone, I then came.upon this page and exited put of
everything they were doing and cussed them out as fast as I could. Any
ideas on whether my computer is okay? I didnt give them any account
information to Any of my credit cards or anything....Were you watching what they did the whole time they had access to your computer? If so, and you did not see them do anything malicious, then you probably stopped them in time and are safe.
By skinnylickingood on 3/14/15 • Reply
mac-issue-online.com was the pop up i encountered, i tried trashing the
com.apple.Safari.plist file and that didnt work but the "command+W" fix
at safari start up did the trick.thanks a lot
😊
By Brian on 3/14/15 • Reply
Thank you! You fixed it!By agentmitthu on 3/14/15 • Reply
Thank You SOOOO MUCH!! I DONT KNOW HOW TO EXPRESS HOW HAPPY I AM!By zorak on 3/14/15 • Reply
this happend to my ipad it is fine now after going into settings and
clearing the history...i called the number and i told the man i got a
pop up message that said to call this number and he immediately told me i
need to pay $100 to get rid of it without asking any questions...and i
asked will this be charged to my credit card on file at apple? he said
no you have to do it over the phone...and i replyed that this sounds
kinda fishy...and real smug he says What? then go to the apple store k
bye...so i did some google and found this site...thanks for your helpBy cathy on 3/15/15 • Reply
Thanks for this article! This helped me after my daughter's laptop got
hijacked and none of the "easy" steps worked. I had to delete the
extensions and turn off wifi then restart to get it to stop.By Anna on 3/15/15 • Reply
Hi, Thank you so much for this helpful article, I got a Chrome Alert with this number on it 1-855-408-7834, I was freaking out so i called the number, the person who answered t thought i have a PC, when asked if it is Mac support the person told me that they are both helping Mac and PC, he give me this website https://secure.logmeinrescue.com/Customer/Code.aspx and asked me to enter a code, since the guy sounded so shady, i didn't enter the code, and hung up the phone. Few minutes later someone called me back from this number 1-212-321-4556 asking if i need any help because i called them, I said no and hung up again. I searched the internet and came across this article, I followed the steps and it worked, thank you.
By zim on 3/17/15 • Reply
The pop up I experienced continued to pop up even after I disabled the
Wifi! That seems to be a new trick. The last suggestion worked for me!
Thanks!That sounds like a particularly nasty one! Do you remember the URL? You can go to the History menu in Safari and then click on Show History, then look in the "address" column. You can see the web address this way without actually loading the page.
By apple123 on 3/19/15 • Reply
I called the number and was a bit suspicious.. he took me to the page
where i have to type in a 6 digit code so they have access of the
computer. i typed it in but then last minute thought nah this is too
suspicious so i didn't press download. I'm a little bit worried now, how
can i tell if they had access or if it downloaded? thanksYou stopped them in time. It doesn't sound like it downloaded. Even if it did, they usually just download a program to give them remote access, so unless you actually ran the program, you're okay.
By mac on 3/19/15 • Reply
this is so important guys.. I'm new to mac and an alert came up on
safari.. blocking all actions, the alert said to call safari tech
support.. I did and next minute they were remotely controlling my
computer.By oakgrovelady on 3/20/15 • Reply
awesome, easy to follow instructions on how to rid your ios of a pop up scam that wont go away
By kwoot on 3/20/15 • Reply
Hello, I tried doing the ~/Library searches, and when I delete the
indicated files and restart Safari opens normally once. When I close it
out, it opens up with the same search engine that has been plaguing me
this week. It is called "search-quick.com". Initially I had the pop
ups from the mac-systems-alert page and the steps from above removed all
that, except now this search engine will not go away. I have
reinstalled OSX, every time I open safari I go to preferences and set
everything to where it should be (no java, homepage, etc). Just when it
looks ok and I reopen Safari, the false engine takes over once again.
Help!!Thanks in advance
in response to kwoot
By AppleClubSupport on 3/20/15 • Reply
That's a separate problem. See http://appleclubsv.com/support/advice-and-articles/mac-viruses#adware.
By Peter on 3/20/15 • Reply
New site.
http://www.trk-11-check-online-8.com/lpbrowser_1_6_mac/w9GOFTSSAOK6GJUIG9RTNQLI?city=San%20Francisco&ip=108.252.136.241&isp=AT%26T%20U-verse&num=1-888-996-0235By StillwaterEng on 3/21/15 • Reply
I got a popup from www.trk-11-check-online-8.com and a screenshot of a
similar event is at https://urlquery.net/report.php?id=1426872081064
I'm on windows7 with google chrome. I don't recall the actual url that
triggered it, but it was probably an "apply now" button on
www.ziprecruiter.com. I don't recall the exact url because I was also
researching Matlab alternatives at http://www.opensourcealternative.org/
I strongly suspect ziprecruiter, but I had many other tabs open. I
was able to call up Task Manager and I tried killing Chrome processes
starting with the highest (latest?) PID first, but it killed the entire
Chrome process. Re-opened, then restored tabs and all OK.By Ahealthy1 on 3/21/15 • Reply
Internal-operating-system-warningyileaks.co.inBy KeithD on 3/23/15 • Reply
The popup I got was pcassists.info. I clicked on the OK button a few
times in the window that was telling me to call 1 877 899-1824. Soon
after that, I could no longer access the preferences in Safari. Luckily I
read an instruction to start Safari while holding down the Shift key,
and it seems to have done the trick. This is the second time this has
happened. The last was about a year ago. I've printed your instructions
to have for further reference. I'm not sure how to provide the url.
By Anonymous83 on 3/24/15 • Reply
virusprotectionteam.com
By TH on 3/24/15 • Reply
New one using Safari Browser
http://www.applefirewall.support
(1) Firewall Alert:
YOUR APPLE Firewall has CRASHED / SPYWARE VIRUS
Call immediately for assistance on how to remove the potential virus.
Contact Apple Support at 1-855-582-0026(Toll Free) ....
http://www.applefirewall.support
(1) Firewall Alert:
YOUR APPLE Firewall has CRASHED / SPYWARE VIRUS
Call immediately for assistance on how to remove the potential virus.
Contact Apple Support at 1-855-582-0026(Toll Free) ....
By Rbat on 3/24/15 • Reply
Very helpful article! Thank you, your advice solved my locked safari
screen Created by 'geeks technology' pop up warning about my Mac pro
having a threat.
By JBee449 on 3/24/15 • Reply
The one that got me was remotecomputertechhelp.com. Thanks for this
post. I was able to get rid of the annoying pop up. Now to figure out
where it came from......
By Radiantworks on 3/24/15 • Reply
Here's another to add to the list
www.browseralert.net
Brings up a **** site & asks you to clic on a window that indicates it will fix the problem, but would clearly do anything but that.
www.browseralert.net
Brings up a **** site & asks you to clic on a window that indicates it will fix the problem, but would clearly do anything but that.
By Wonder3306 on 3/25/15 • Reply
This worked great. I did call the number but suspected something was
wrong when I asked the Indian call taker if he was associated with
Apple. He could not give me a definitive answer and wanted me to let him
have remote access to my computer. He repeatedly wanted access to my
system until I finally said I'll call you back n hung up.
These people need to be arrested.
These people need to be arrested.
By PG on 3/27/15 • Reply
Thank you! Thank you! Thank You! Thank you! Thank you! Thank You!
"Relaunch Safari" worked perfectly. I didn't need to go any further.
By muchasgracias on 3/28/15 • Reply
Thank You!!!!!!
By Jack on 3/29/15 • Reply
Got this from the website:
http://apple.com-spyware.help
http://apple.com-spyware.help
By Ocams_Razor on 3/29/15 • Reply
pcassist.info is another scam site - your guide worked to kill it, but it should be in your extension!
in response to Ocams_Razor
By AppleClubSupport on 3/29/15 • Reply
pcassists.info has been included in ScamZapper for the last few versions.
By summer2971 on 3/30/15 • Reply
I had the same issue. I fixed the problem by going to Safari and clearing the cooking and date history.
By Joerg on 3/30/15 • Reply
remotetechsupportnotifications.com/techsupp/lp8 followed by machine identification.
Very persistent, found by cliking links on Facebook, seems rather new scam
Very persistent, found by cliking links on Facebook, seems rather new scam
By macuser on 3/31/15 • Reply
Encountered this issue today - it tried to point me to
www.windowscaution.com and gave a phone #. Site of actual scam for Mac
is www.windowscaution.com/mac
Solution of shutting down wifi and reopening safari then starting wifi again orI had to force close Safari, choose not to reopen windows and then all was good...
Solution of shutting down wifi and reopening safari then starting wifi again orI had to force close Safari, choose not to reopen windows and then all was good...
By found-one on 3/31/15 • Reply
Found another scam website. It's ncbnews.com
By scammed on 3/31/15 • Reply
micro-tech-support.com also appears to be one of their host sites. They
just tried to get me and sent me there when I wanted a website to verify
their identity.
By aj on 4/01/15 • Reply
This is great. I appreciate this. Will donate to help your cause.
By Ian on 4/01/15 • Reply
Thank you for the help! I had to delete the file
com.apple.Safari.savedState before I could get rid of the problem. The
URL causing the trouble was http://help.portenttech.com
I am in full agreement with a previous suggestion - can somebody please come up with a retaliatory software with which we can spam the spammers?! Enough of this nonsense!
I am in full agreement with a previous suggestion - can somebody please come up with a retaliatory software with which we can spam the spammers?! Enough of this nonsense!
By Thesmallestcannibal on 4/02/15 • Reply
THANKY YOU, YOU SAVED MY LIFE
By R34mom on 4/02/15 • Reply
It worked! Thankyou! My son went to some movie site and then the window
appeard and would not close! I shut the wifi and followed the
instructions. I did call the number just to see and some Indian guy
answered. I said i had the wrong number and hung up and they called me
back! I hope they dont do anything with my number. Hope this helps
someone else and thanks again!
By John on 4/03/15 • Reply
I deleted the first file. No improvement.
Deleted the second file and then followed the advice [press Command + W] and the problem is now gone!!! :)
Deleted the second file and then followed the advice [press Command + W] and the problem is now gone!!! :)
[Edited by moderator]
By Meg on 4/04/15 • Reply
http//: online-safari-issue.com
This notification told me that A major security issue was detected and that suspicious activity might have been detected. I called and the indian dude had me set up a support.me system where he had access to my computer which was plugged into my phone. I have to say, it was pretty convincing when he did a scan that looked super official and intimidating to anyone who know nothing about code. It even ended with "network hacked". I was like woahhhh crap how do I fix it? He WOULDNT ANSWER. He went on saying, "Im getting there". then proceeded to tell me what these "RUSSIAN HACKERS" could do and get all my passwords and bank accound info. I was like BRO how do I fix it? He still wouldnt directly answer. Then he set up a notepad and wrote out steps about how to fix it. He told me to call a certain company of networkers who would install a software or something to fix my network and clean it, tune it up, and make it faster. I was like okay how much does it cost? NO DIRECT ANSWER. I was pretty sure it was a scam at this point. Especially because of how insistent he was. Very pushy. He finally told me it was like $146 and I was like UH HUH NO. He said can you afford $99 and Im like NO. Thanks for yo time, pal. BYE. So yeah....how I fixed it was by deleting all my apps with important info on them and re installing them for safety, but turned off my wifi and cleared the safari pages i had open. Then I turned my wifi back on and the pesky notification went away. All fixed! No money, no hackers, and i went on with my day. Hope this helps! Btw....the number they told me to call is 8555690204
I was able to call it back so its not a telemarketer. Just a scam.
This notification told me that A major security issue was detected and that suspicious activity might have been detected. I called and the indian dude had me set up a support.me system where he had access to my computer which was plugged into my phone. I have to say, it was pretty convincing when he did a scan that looked super official and intimidating to anyone who know nothing about code. It even ended with "network hacked". I was like woahhhh crap how do I fix it? He WOULDNT ANSWER. He went on saying, "Im getting there". then proceeded to tell me what these "RUSSIAN HACKERS" could do and get all my passwords and bank accound info. I was like BRO how do I fix it? He still wouldnt directly answer. Then he set up a notepad and wrote out steps about how to fix it. He told me to call a certain company of networkers who would install a software or something to fix my network and clean it, tune it up, and make it faster. I was like okay how much does it cost? NO DIRECT ANSWER. I was pretty sure it was a scam at this point. Especially because of how insistent he was. Very pushy. He finally told me it was like $146 and I was like UH HUH NO. He said can you afford $99 and Im like NO. Thanks for yo time, pal. BYE. So yeah....how I fixed it was by deleting all my apps with important info on them and re installing them for safety, but turned off my wifi and cleared the safari pages i had open. Then I turned my wifi back on and the pesky notification went away. All fixed! No money, no hackers, and i went on with my day. Hope this helps! Btw....the number they told me to call is 8555690204
I was able to call it back so its not a telemarketer. Just a scam.
By thelovebelow on 4/05/15 • Reply
I didn't see this article until after the fact. I had a pop up that
disabled all functions... so in a haste, I shut down my computer by
pressing the power button. This shut down my Macbook Pro, but it
restarted with the same windows, but I managed to close everything then.
When I restarted it, I was getting a weird grey globe logo at the
startup. I managed to fix this by going through the system preferences,
but now I'm seeing a grey apple logo at start up. Start up starts with a
blue apple logo with gears, then goes to a grey background with apple
logo then to my login. Can someone tell me what is going on? How can I
resolve this issue? Thank you
By Bullethead3352 on 4/06/15 • Reply
THANK YOU SO MUCH!! I've been trying forever but I didn't trust the
people I called on the number. Finally I found your page and it worked!
By beadersc on 4/07/15 • Reply
Hi there,
Thank you for your advice! Unfortunately, your suggestions did not resolve my issue, as i'm still getting the pop-up. Do you have any other suggestions? When i've removed the suggested folder you mentioned under Library and Library Preferences, and the pop up comes back, when i go back into Finder, the folders are there again. I think the pop up is coming through Facebook. Suggestions? Thanks!
Thank you for your advice! Unfortunately, your suggestions did not resolve my issue, as i'm still getting the pop-up. Do you have any other suggestions? When i've removed the suggested folder you mentioned under Library and Library Preferences, and the pop up comes back, when i go back into Finder, the folders are there again. I think the pop up is coming through Facebook. Suggestions? Thanks!
in response to beadersc
By AppleClubSupport on 4/07/15 • Reply
Did you skip over the first suggestions and go right to removing the files, or did those not work, either?
By BusyUndergrad on 4/07/15 • Reply
I restarted my computer and still the pop ups came up when I opened
safari... I was astonished and then very concerned. I'm so glad that
this was the first article that I read. It was well written and
comprehensive. I held down the shift key when starting up safari and it
did the trick. Thank you so much! You made my day 😊
By sam45 on 4/08/15 • Reply
Thanks! Using Shift when opening did the trick.
By ELC on 4/09/15 • Reply
Thank you so much your information was very helful. I follow your
instructions and I was able to delete the file: com.apple.Safari.plist.
I restarted my computer and I got Safari back to work.
By xav & bea on 4/09/15 • Reply
If the problem persist i suggest you read this article https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203987
By Rizzled on 4/09/15 • Reply
So the tab with the pop up would not close even with command + w. Figured I'll try a script. The tab with the pop up was named "Support".
Ran the following script in Applescript Editor which closed the unwanted tab and left all my other tabs open. Hope this helps out
tell application "Safari" to close (every tab of window 1 whose name is equal to "Support")
By kaylaf on 4/09/15 • Reply
The pop I that appeared for me was almost identical to the one pictured on the right, it had the url: http://www.applehelp.net
By Liz on 4/10/15 • Reply
Mac.popup-support.com DO NOT go there! "Critical Warning call for assistance 1(855) 244-7750. "
By jmiller on 4/10/15 • Reply
www.mygpsworld.com is the scamming web address that popped up for me and it acts like Norton anti-virus software and tells you your computer is infected and you MUST call the toll-free number. I couldn't get rid of the pop-up message, but thanks to this article I was finally able to!! Thank you!
By bionomial on 4/10/15 • Reply
Thanks for your software !
A new one, or me at least, is www.pcinfectedalert.com
By BarbC on 4/11/15 • Reply
I HATE ALL CAPS POSTS BUT I REALLY, REALLY APPRECIATE THE HELP!!
Thanks so much!
By CJL on 4/12/15 • Reply
Your instructions for iOS users worked like a charm! I deleted cookies and data in settings and voila-no more tab with the nasty pop-up. It's only option was "OK," so I knew not to click on it. Thanks, I'm bookmarking your page. 👍👍👍
By edie on 4/13/15 • Reply
http://appleissues.co.uk is the one I've got.
By jane on 4/13/15 • Reply
I held down the shift key and clicked with the mouse on the quit button at the same time in the tiny gap the window was gone on Safari, worked a treat
By c.smith16 on 4/14/15 • Reply
Found a pop up claiming to be from virusalertswarning.com
By mustard on 4/14/15 • Reply
Thanks for your help. Got this scam on project free tv. Going to stay clear of it for awhile.
By hg on 4/14/15 • Reply
Nohing, nothing, nothing listed on this list works to get rid of the
scam security pop up in safari. I did all of them. Many times. The site
is goodforus.us or onlinemovie.us. Other suggestions?
in response to hg
By AppleClubSupport on 4/14/15 • Reply
I strongly doubt that the page was magically able to load without an Internet connection, as one of the steps suggested in this article is to quit Safari, turn off Wi-Fi (or unplug Ethernet if that is what you use), and then relaunch Safari.
By F. Ledo on 4/15/15 • Reply
Here other URL to the list:
www.applealert.co.uk
www.applealert.co.uk
By skippy on 4/16/15 • Reply
Please add this to your list of ad-ware addresses:
mac-system-alerts.com
mac-system-alerts.com
By Anonymous83 on 4/16/15 • Reply
I have tried every method, but the pop-up still shows.
Http://mac-support-messages.com
By DT23 on 4/17/15 • Reply
My Safari got hit today 4/17/15. Safari alert, suspicious activity.
Call 800-673-8408 url www.machelpforall.com error code WBACK 7917
By jsugg on 4/17/15 • Reply
Hit today by www.groundrealty.co.in.
Thanks for the very helpful info on this!!
By Kinich7 on 4/17/15 • Reply
Thank You! Worked just as you said. What low-life scammers who try to trick with these terrible tactics!
By DH on 4/18/15 • Reply
Viralised.com for Safari users - with this phone number in the scam: 1-877-387-9661
Thank you for your article - I had to get all the way to the hold shift step to get my browser back!
Thank you for your article - I had to get all the way to the hold shift step to get my browser back!
By robear3301 on 4/19/15 • Reply
Hit by mac-health-support.com
in response to robear3301
By AppleClubSupport on 4/19/15 • Reply
I'm getting a "can't find the server" error when I try to visit that page... are you sure about that URL? With Safari open, you can go to History > Show History to see the URL of the page without actually visiting it.
By thank you on 4/20/15 • Reply
Thank you
By mommamosh on 4/20/15 • Reply
add another to your list:
pcassist.net
in response to mommamosh
By AppleClubSupport on 4/20/15 • Reply
Sorry, can't find any scam pages on that site, either. We would need the full URL.
By applaud on 4/22/15 • Reply
Thank you Had a 'virus' alert from pcfixsecure on my mini iPad. It froze the browser. Got rid of it thanx to your article.
By isail on 4/22/15 • Reply
www.80systemerroralertcode22.com
By meweehaa on 4/22/15 • Reply
www.watch-vedios.com
By Kay on 4/23/15 • Reply
OMG, very helpful article. I tried force quit safari, didn't work, then I
found this article on my iPhone. The shift key tip did the trick for
me👏👏👏👏😊
By slackerdan on 4/24/15 • Reply
machelpforevery1.com
is another pop up window that takes control of the browser
By Saucy on 4/25/15 • Reply
Add www.pcassistancetools.com to your list. Thanks!
By Amiln30 on 4/26/15 • Reply
I need help. The safari restart is not working and the coloured mouse ball is still turning not letting me quit or close down anything. I tried to force quit the safari icon and disconnected the wifi and have reopened the safari page and clicked out of the tab but when I reopen safari and turn wifi back on it automatically comes back on HELP
I don't see anywhere in your comment where you mentioned trying holding the shift key when relaunching Safari. If you haven't tried that already, repeat the steps you tried (turn off Wi-Fi, quit Safari, close out of the tab, quit Safari again), but before you re-enable Wi-Fi and relaunch Safari, hold down the shift key when opening Safari, and you should see a brand new window with no tabs open. If, for some reason, that still does not work, while you have your Wi-Fi turned off, launch Safari, and in the menu bar go to Safari > Preferences > Privacy > Details (next to "Cookies and website data"), look for the webpage that was displaying the pop-up, and click Remove. If you are not sure what the webpage was, to be safe, click "Remove All Website Data" from the Privacy pane in Safari's preferences.
By medicwlf on 4/27/15 • Reply
http://fabulousall.net
By Bmlane on 4/27/15 • Reply
This helped a ton, great step by step. Thanks!!
By GeneL on 4/27/15 • Reply
I get a message when I am trying to get a video to play that my FlashDrive needs to be updated.
That's when the fit hits the shan.
By jackhammybear on 4/28/15 • Reply
THANK YOU , THANK YOU, THANK YOU, Not only did your instructions about the shift key and disconnecting from the internet steps work, I was relieved to find out that you also made sure to note that just the pop up alone will not compromise my MAC. SO helpful!! cant thank you enough!
By Mjsdawa on 4/28/15 • Reply
The advice given here work perfectly for me. The pop up that was coming up for me was machelpforevery1.
By Juju on 4/29/15 • Reply
Thank you
By safari pop up on 4/29/15 • Reply
I got the pop up with the phone number 1 888 258 5284; I initially believed it and called, but when the person told me to go to www.support.me which is not listed above - , I became suspicious and asked him to give me some form of identification that he was apple support. He said that that was just the default number and that he couldn't give me anything else to prove his ID. At that point I told him I would call him back and hang up the phone. I did not run the software they wanted me to, which the guy said was to give them access to me computer (which also made me suspicious).
By Marie on 4/29/15 • Reply
Thanks a million. I put watch chelsea v Leicester live & received the pop up advising me to call +44 808 143 3684. I rang the supposedly free number. I was advised I need to have access to a computer. TG I was too lazy to set it up. I rang my son who advised me it was a scam. I found this site & followed the IOS part. Thank you very much again.
By Ociiana on 4/29/15 • Reply
Thx! Shift when reopening worked a treat!! Whew!! The url I was stuck on was not listed so here it is. Http://online-security-alert.com. Please add
By castleram on 4/30/15 • Reply
Thanks so much for the help! Relaunching Safari while holding down the Shift key worked for me.
The source of the pop-up was: pc-browser-messages.com
in response to castleram
By JD on 5/01/15 • Reply
www.systemsecurities.info is a pretty nasty variant of this hack. They direct you to call 877-899-1974. I will have to massage my safari preferences to fix the problem.
By JD on 5/01/15 • Reply
I had a pretty bad variant of this. I tried all your tricks short of wiping out the preference plist and none of those work. However, I deleted ~/Library/Safari/LastSession.plist and restarted Safari successfully. I believe that my variant of the hack was associated to www.system-securities.info and their phone number 877-899-1824.
in response to JD
By AppleClubSupport on 5/01/15 • Reply
Thanks for reporting this! We added that domain to our database earlier today.
By Jchristie on 5/04/15 • Reply
Logictechsupport.net
Should be added to list.
By Olivia Devendorf on 5/04/15 • Reply
THANK YOU!!! this was SO helpful
By GinaC. on 5/05/15 • Reply
I tried everything I could just to get Safari to be operable again. Nothing worked until I was able to make a google search through Google Chrome browser. I came across this post and it worked perfectly! Thank you so much. You've saved me a bunch of time, money and embarrassment!
By JayBird on 5/05/15 • Reply
Thanks!!! www.fixpc99.com was the source of the this problem for me.
By mkorch on 5/08/15 • Reply
Thanks! website for pop up macsecurity-alert.com
By Apple User since 1984 on 5/09/15 • Reply
Thanks for focusing your brain power on the fix and not the problem. If only all that idle power was used for good ...what a world we would live in.
By Bsapavel on 5/11/15 • Reply
Thank you really works all I have to do is force shut, turn off wifi, and reopen while holding shift
By Lscott on 5/13/15 • Reply
HELP 😒 I can't find the com.apple.safari file on my MacBook, or any of the other files suggested, has anyone else had this problem?
in response to Lscott
By AppleClubSupport on 5/13/15 • Reply
If you can't find the files listed, you can download and run ScamZapper. On first run, it will install its Safari extension, which will prevent most pop-ups like this from appearing in the future. If you run ScamZapper again, click "Troubleshoot Pop-up." This will help you get rid of the current pop-up, including finding and deleting the files mentioned in this article if necessary.
By Lfloyd on 5/13/15 • Reply
Thank you! The shift button trick worked!!!!!
By Ali on 5/13/15 • Reply
Got the POP up on 5/12/15. Got rid of it. Here is the number that appeared on the Alert: (647)260-4455
By Liz on 5/14/15 • Reply
Worked great to remove. I got this from a link that went to : viralised.com
By marie G on 5/15/15 • Reply
thank you! easy to follow instructions for a girl with a low tech-IQ. Awesome. Those windows were really scary to me and i was able to fix it myself. Kisses! Hugs!
By RJ on 5/16/15 • Reply
I had to do ALL the steps to get Safari back up. However, it does not appear to be working correctly. It blinks several times when coming on and whichever site I open from the browser, has similar blinks when I scroll up or down. Am I still missing something? Help?
in response to RJ
By AppleClubSupport on 5/16/15 • Reply
I can't really picture the "blinking" you're describing, but did you try a normal restart of Safari, and if that doesn't work, a restart of your Mac?
By Megs on 5/16/15 • Reply
Thank you! The fix worked great and the information eased my mind knowing that my info was not compromised.
By Edu99 on 5/18/15 • Reply
pc-errors-notice-1a.com
is another source of these annoying popups
By Daniel Roell on 5/19/15 • Reply
I have a friend who encountered this type of scam with the url: www.macsecurityalert.com
Force Quit of Safari and the restart of Safari with the Shift Key held down took care of the problem. Thanks for posting this article.
By mariz on 5/20/15 • Reply
Thanks for the helpful info... I got "machelpforevery2.com" I believe it was linked from heavy.com
By RebeccaA on 5/20/15 • Reply
Thank you! That's all I can say thank you! YOur simple instructions helped me clear up the problem.
By gnat on 5/20/15 • Reply
Thank you! I was caught in this one:
http://macattention.in/popup.html
Holding the shift key down was the solution in your list that worked. Many thanks!!
By alguy94 on 5/20/15 • Reply
I seriously love you whoever wrote this. I thought I was doomed for sure. The shift key strategy fixed it all! Thanks 😊
By JC on 5/21/15 • Reply
Hi, thanks for the information.
Please also include the URL:
http://www.securitywarns.com
pressing shift worked on my MBA, OS X 10.9
Thanks.
By Scott on 5/22/15 • Reply
I have been able to get rid of the messages by force quitting Safari then clicking the button to not open previously opened tabs. Sometimes you have to force quit twice to get the button.
I'm hoping your software works. Going to give it a try.
in response to Scott
By AppleClubSupport on 5/22/15 • Reply
After you've used ScamZapper for a little while, if you'd like to let us know what you think of it, you can comment on its page on our website, or send an email to appleclubfeedback@gmail.com.
By sara on 5/22/15 • Reply
Thank you. one of your suggestions worked! I am so relieved.
By glennmcd on 5/25/15 • Reply
Thanks so much this was a life saver! Definitely saving this for future reference- More helpful that Apple could have been
By Gail on 5/26/15 • Reply
Shift key worked like a charm! Thank you sooooo much. You've given me back my Internet.
By Martin H on 5/27/15 • Reply
Thank you very much for your article..
This URL http:/ securepcup.com infected my Safari with a badly spelt instructions to phone xxx. etc
Followed your very clear instructions down to the very last one which finally cleared it.
THANKYOU
By Cindi on 5/27/15 • Reply
One year on, and your instructions were not only still valid, but well-written and easy to follow. Thank you so much.
By jbrow on 5/27/15 • Reply
Thank you so much for this article! Great explanation of the popup and easy-to-follow instructions on how to close it.
The URL in the popup was mac-security.com and the number they wanted me to call was 647-360-4452. I did not see this URL in your list.
By Bilious_Bill on 5/27/15 • Reply
This came up when my wife was using Safari under Yosemite. The number that appeared was 1-844-521-0863. She phoned it and was led through freeing-up Safari, and then told to enter www.support.me. She did so, and a page of Google results appeared warning her of the scam, so she told the "techie" that she would let me talk to him when I got home.
By roxi on 5/27/15 • Reply
Thank you for your helpful info!
The scam number I was asked to call by the scam message is 647.360.4458. Jerks!
By anon on 5/28/15 • Reply
wi.c.com
pcsupportmessage.com
domainglobal.info
pchelpandsupport.biz
e3wr.com
e60e.com
e82e.com
By Steven S. on 5/28/15 • Reply
The was THE BEST, MOST INFORMATIVE way to clear the "crap" off Safari. After trying many different options, I followed the suggestion of quitting Safari, turning off WiFi (or unplugging ethernet) and then reopening Safari. After closing all the tabs and clearing history, I was able to turn WiFi back on and open the web browser without any incident. BRAVO and THANK YOU!!!
BTW - I never write reviews.
By Jim Gagnon on 5/29/15 • Reply
add http://bsod-error.info/ to your list. It asks you to call (855) 895-8959
By lv on 5/31/15 • Reply
safe-support.help
today-living.com
macsupportmessage.com
today-living.com
macsupportmessage.com
By G on 6/01/15 • Reply
mac-securities.com. Thank you for this article! I got scared out of my mind that my conputer was hacked. As a new online business owner, I was terrified! Not anymore 😊
By Ginny on 6/03/15 • Reply
I got a popup while using Chrome on my Mac. URL http://app.macoscleaner.com/secure/en8/index.html?voluumdata=vid..00000003-cd74-4ffd-8000-000000000000__vpid..96768000-0a09-11e5-8a9b-8fc4ca9759cf__caid..48dced12-25c7-4982-b011-527d198fa9ea__rt..DJ__lid..b1d13635-3362-4e00-b49f-3daef77eb6d5__oid1..07bb6eaa-c983-4d90-b4ad-3670b87ec557__var1..243192__rd..onclickads%5C.%5Cnet&zoneid=243192&visitor_id=74080680063
By Tim on 6/03/15 • Reply
I had a lot of windows open and I didn't want to lose track of them. I found this to be the easiest option:
1. Quit Safari. Restart with the shift key to disable reloading web pages from the last session.
2. Go into Safari Preferences and disable javascript (Security tab/icon).
3. Choose History->Reopen All Windows From Last Session
4. Close the offending page/tab, which now no longer causes pop-ups because javascript is disabled.
5. Re-activate javascript in Safari Preferences
in response to Tim
By AppleClubSupport on 6/03/15 • Reply
That works too; in this case, it would pretty much have the same effect as turning off Wi-Fi and then closing the tab, as described in the article.
By cinhux on 6/03/15 • Reply
Thank you so much for helping me get my macbook untangled from those popups. Worked perfectly. You guys are a blessing.
By rr on 6/03/15 • Reply
add this site, same game
sigh
okcaller.com
came up on google search for reverse number lookup
By Annoyed on 6/04/15 • Reply
The pop up message is
http://www.mac-securities.com
Security Error
Call Helpline +1-844-743-5316
By RAKESH.SINGH on 6/07/15 • Reply
I ALWAYS CALL THESE CLOWNS AND INSIST THEY PICK UP THE CAMEL POO THAT THEIR WIFE DROPPED.
By JessHA on 6/08/15 • Reply
thank you, thank you!! I was able to recover safari after trashing all the specific files named.
By Duke on 6/08/15 • Reply
I had one of these nasty attacks when a Google search result that seemed ok from the Google provide preview must have redirected me to the bad page
http://pc-repair-alert.com/mac-warning-alert.html
By Jessicaaa on 6/08/15 • Reply
Thanks for the info! The url attached to my pop up was: www.mac-securities.com/y/index9.html
By Bishop on 6/11/15 • Reply
I got a message very similar to those when I went to freelanceteach.com looking for chemistry videos.
By Wolf256 on 6/11/15 • Reply
Got my husbands iPad2 today. The site listed is
http://www.mac-security-alert.com. The iPad is back to normal after
following the "Clear History and Website Data" instructions.
By sarah on 6/12/15 • Reply
This one came up today:
http://www.macerrror.com.
Removed by simply restarting Safari with shift key.
Thanks!
http://www.macerrror.com.
Removed by simply restarting Safari with shift key.
Thanks!
By GUHoyas777 on 6/14/15 • Reply
pcassists.info is now macerrror dot something. Yes, there are 3 R's, something I discovered after reviewing the page.
in response to GUHoyas777
By AppleClubSupport on 6/14/15 • Reply
We added that domain (macerrror.com) yesterday. Just curious, though, how did you connect it with pcassists.info? Is it the same organization running the scam?
By JerryO on 6/15/15 • Reply
Excellent article!! It solved my hijack problem! I was on the phone with
Comcast for an hour, but it wasn't an internet connection problem - it
was a browser problem. Thanks!!
By Lee on 6/16/15 • Reply
URL: support-pop-up.com/warning/fix.php
This is who froze my Safari. Worked fine when reopened w/shift key.
This is who froze my Safari. Worked fine when reopened w/shift key.
By Red3360 on 6/16/15 • Reply
Another site to watch for is safari-online-issue.com - got hit by this URL - 2015-06-16
By Phoney on 6/17/15 • Reply
I got a pop up stuck on my ipad with only the option to "Confirm you are
the user of this device" the site was www.youaretheluckywinner.com
It was suggested to turn off the wi-fi and I did.
I then was able to clear all the tabs off.
As suggested I then used www.apple.com ' s website, which wouldn't load obviously as I was unconnected to the Wi-fi
Then reconnected to Wi-fi and the offending pop-up and other sites were gone.
Thank you very much.
It was suggested to turn off the wi-fi and I did.
I then was able to clear all the tabs off.
As suggested I then used www.apple.com ' s website, which wouldn't load obviously as I was unconnected to the Wi-fi
Then reconnected to Wi-fi and the offending pop-up and other sites were gone.
Thank you very much.
By anon125 on 6/17/15 • Reply
macconditionresult.com
By jeani2015 on 6/17/15 • Reply
rechargehigh.co.in has a pop - virus alert
By Nanstey on 6/18/15 • Reply
Perfect - all the other help I could find didn't address the extent of
freezing this caused but this thorough step by step guide did. Thank
you!
By 786f4u on 6/19/15 • Reply
Alertsmaconline(.)com as well
By Shanon on 6/20/15 • Reply
got a very annoying pop-up (macsecurityalert) from putlocker.
By ArmoredDragon on 6/20/15 • Reply
I got one from os-error.paves.co.in. The popup was extremely long, far
beyond the width of my screen. I got rid of it before reading this
article. I just kept force quitting Safari and starting it and I tried
to click the tab's "close" button in time. Took a few tries, but worked.
By jimcork on 6/21/15 • Reply
The popup I encountered which completely froze my access to Safari was
from "techsupportpros.co" (not ".com", which is a dead giveaway it's a
scam because I'm not aware of any ".co" domain). I had to go to the
second level of addressing the issue, meaning I had to junk both the
Safari .plist and the Saved State, but once I did, Safari seems to be
back to it's old self. Of course, when you delete a .plist file, you
lose everything under History, but that seems to me a very small price
to pay to regain control of what is my primary web browser. I also
downloaded ScamZapper to my Desktop immediately using Google Chrome,
just in case there were still any issues remaining with Safari that I
was not yet aware of. THANK YOU SO MUCH Matthew Leeper and Apple Club
for 1.) explaining what the **** was going on (this same problem has
happened to me in the past, but in those instances was always resolvable
with a Command-W window close. The one from the scumbags identified
above, was MUCH nastier and could not be resolved with a Command-W as
prior occurrences were), and 2.) offering for free what I hope will be a
solution in ScamZapper, although these guys are very smart and
calculating, and I'm sure it's a constant battle to try and stay ahead
of them. It's happened to me 4 or 5 times in the past, but never once
used the same language/presentation, or was from the same obviously
multiply redirected domain. There were always variations, sometimes
minor and sometimes not, but until this instance, had all been
resolvable using Command-W. In total exasperation, I did call the "tech
support" number from the popup (actually I got multiple popups, each
showing a completely different phone #, but all going in the same
place), and was eventually told by these malicious ******** (pardon the
crude expression, but I think it's appropriate in this situation) that
they were "Apple's outsourced Tech Support Department", and, just as you
said, telling me I had to buy and install additional software at a cost
of $180 USD to prevent it from occurring again. When I asked very
specific questions about their alleged relationship with Apple, such as
why this software wasn't available from Apple but only through them and
told them I'd have to hear that directly from Apple before I gave them
any information whatsoever, they disconnected me without another word,
which sealed the deal for me that they were the lowest form of online
extortionists. Word of advice: always have at least one, and probably
several, alternative browsers installed, updated and ready to use even
if Safari is your browser of choice, because if I hadn't had Chrome, I
wouldn't have found Apple Club and have no idea how things would've
turned out. Thank you again, Matthew Leeper and Apple Club, for your
very clear and concise process to resolve this ugly scam, for providing
ScamZapper as a free download, and for keeping it as updated as
possible, because scammers are constantly tweaking their methods to stay
one step ahead of most Safari users, and, I'd imagine, both Apple and
law enforcement. It ended up costing me over 8 hours of online time I
really needed, but the outcome could've been SO MUCH worse without you.
Kudos to you all for what amounts to a public service. Kudos to you all.
I'm extremely grateful
By anonymous on 6/22/15 • Reply
http://support-pop-up.com/warning/fix.php
This pop-up seemed to lock up the entire computer, although it could've been my three year old... She clicked a lot and hit some keys when it popped up, and before we noticed what was going on.
I tried shutting down the computer first and chose "cancel" when asked about opening what was open previously. This didn't work, and then I found this article on our other computer.
The shift key worked, and I went through the Safari preferences and deleted the plist file just to be sure.
Thanks!
This pop-up seemed to lock up the entire computer, although it could've been my three year old... She clicked a lot and hit some keys when it popped up, and before we noticed what was going on.
I tried shutting down the computer first and chose "cancel" when asked about opening what was open previously. This didn't work, and then I found this article on our other computer.
The shift key worked, and I went through the Safari preferences and deleted the plist file just to be sure.
Thanks!
By Matt starchild on 6/23/15 • Reply
I gave the scammer my apple I cloud address but nothing else. Am I safe? Matt
in response to Matt starchild
By AppleClubSupport on 6/23/15 • Reply
You'll be safe once you change your Apple ID password at http://iforgot.apple.com.
By Toews87 on 6/23/15 • Reply
This article was fantastic. Cleared my problem in less than 5 minutes, thank you so much!
By M on 6/24/15 • Reply
scam com-apple.club pop-up- force quit safari
in response to M
By AppleClubSupport on 6/24/15 • Reply
Based on the "apple.club" in the URL, it seems that the scammers are well aware of us and are trying to impersonate us. I'm glad that they know that we're making an effort to stop their scams!
By hoshizora02 on 6/24/15 • Reply
get-pc-scan.com
is making a really long pop-up message so I can't click on the ok button and I tried pressing enter but it still didn't work
is making a really long pop-up message so I can't click on the ok button and I tried pressing enter but it still didn't work
By gfb3 on 6/25/15 • Reply
thanks so much, your advice to quit Safari, turn off wi-fi, attempt to
navigate to Google and then turn the wi-fi on worked perfectly. Safari
was hijacked by support.mtdsupport.com and was instructing me to call a
number claiming to be from BellSouth.net
By Wasmuth on 6/25/15 • Reply
I rebooted my iPad which fixed the problem. Then I called the f-ing Indian that answered and cussed him out.
By Red on 6/29/15 • Reply
Mac-protection.com
By Lol on 6/30/15 • Reply
I was using chrome so it naturally looked like a scam but, I still wanted too know if anyone else got this.
By kbee214 on 6/30/15 • Reply
I downloaded what I thought was a free youtube to mp3 converter. So I
did install something on my computer that came as chip.dmg. I
immediately had my browser hijacked. As I realized that this was
happening, I force quit Safari and restarted my computer to to short
circuit the install of the download. I don't really know if I was
successful. I rebooted and ran Sophos Anti virus which found one mal
ware. I believe it was what I had been in the process of installing.
When I rebooted Safari I got a url to 247techquery.com and a popup box
with no close button telling me there was a security problem and to call
a 1-844 number. The scammers who answered told me they were part of
'global tech support". I was angry and did not treat them nicely. I
demanded to know what company they worked for and was told Technogeeks.
They wanted me to pay them to "fix" my computer and claimed that they
didn't know who technoquery was. And that their number was not the 1-844
number, but I had been routed to them. I called bullshit on them and
told them I would hang up and call back, which I did. Same folks in
Beirut. Scammers. I booted up Firefox and input the 247techquery.com
address and a bogus video download site loaded. I guess they are fishing
for suckers to download videos. I yelled at them for a while and got
nowhere. I've run disk doctor and found the dmg and trashed it. I'm
hoping that is all the damage that was done. Thanks for the
recommendations.
By Ceecee on 7/01/15 • Reply
I called the number, and an answer machine answered and just said, "good
y" the. The call ended. Am I still compromised? Or am I okay?
in response to Ceecee
By AppleClubSupport on 7/01/15 • Reply
No. It is impossible to get an infection by calling a phone number. Since you did not give them any personal information, or remote access to your computer, your devices are fine.
By yellowlemon on 7/01/15 • Reply
Scam phone number received as an follow-up popup to "Safari - alert"
popup while on Chrome on an iPad. This 2nd popup said to call 866 836
0831 because of problem with Safari. This message froze Chrome so had to
uninstall and reinstall Chrome to get it working again. Looked up phone
number on various reverse number sites, and it was not a credible
number.
By Jo on 7/02/15 • Reply
Thank you soo much!!
I was so worried my Safari browser would not return to normal. Holding down the shift key while opening Safari worked for me!!
Bless you 😊
I was so worried my Safari browser would not return to normal. Holding down the shift key while opening Safari worked for me!!
Bless you 😊
By Ijeff on 7/03/15 • Reply
I tried removing safari as suggested but nothing works - cannot close browser so can't restart! Help!!
in response to Ijeff
By AppleClubSupport on 7/03/15 • Reply
If you've followed the instructions here exactly without success, try downloading our ScamZapper application (you're on a Mac, right?) and choose the "Troubleshoot Pop-up" option.
By Britt on 7/03/15 • Reply
Thank you so much! This worked right away! the address I had was mac-alert-error.com
By Dormouse on 7/06/15 • Reply
I am not sure why I needed someone to TELL me that if I wasn't connected
to the bloody internet it couldn't load, but I did, so thank you for
telling me.
By SCLM67 on 7/08/15 • Reply
htttp://mac-pops.com Came up on my ipad.
By Anon on 7/09/15 • Reply
Thank you so much it worked
By Milkrun on 7/11/15 • Reply
Shift + relaunch worked and cleared website and data history. BHO by
redirect to url: mac-alert.co The pop up splash says: from
"s3-us-west-2-amazonaws.com" call 1-844-542-0018 Definite Scam
Parasite!!
By LT on 7/11/15 • Reply
Thank you so much! You saved me a trip to the Mac Store!
The virus I had was the:
mac-securities.com securitywarns.com contactpchelp.com firewall-alert-triggered.com
It did not respond to turning off Wi-Fi. I not only deleted the Safari. plist as you suggested but also found a Safari.Plist.lock. I deleted it as well.
I emptied trash and rebooted only to have the virus warning pop up again!This time I held down the Shift Key and it worked! I sent into my Safari preferences and deleted cookies.
Question 1: Under security it says "The Google SafeBrowsing Service is unavailable. No updates have of furred in 43 days" what does this mean?
Question 2: under PASSWARDS should I clear all passwords?
Thanks again!
The virus I had was the:
mac-securities.com securitywarns.com contactpchelp.com firewall-alert-triggered.com
It did not respond to turning off Wi-Fi. I not only deleted the Safari. plist as you suggested but also found a Safari.Plist.lock. I deleted it as well.
I emptied trash and rebooted only to have the virus warning pop up again!This time I held down the Shift Key and it worked! I sent into my Safari preferences and deleted cookies.
Question 1: Under security it says "The Google SafeBrowsing Service is unavailable. No updates have of furred in 43 days" what does this mean?
Question 2: under PASSWARDS should I clear all passwords?
Thanks again!
1) Google's Safe Browsing service is what Safari uses to warn you about fraudulent websites. However, that won't help with pop-ups like these as they are typically slow to get added to Google's database, if at all. Anyway, that message means that either Google hasn't updated their service's database as the messages suggests, or Safari was unable to contact their server. Either way, it's not the result of foul play.
2) That won't be necessary. No website can read your passwords (unless it's a password for that same site).
in response to AppleClubSupport
By LT on 7/11/15 • Reply
Thank you so much for your prompt response!
By my wife is happy on 7/12/15 • Reply
Followed the instructions and restarting safari in a new home page after blocking out the virus worked.
thanks - greatly appreciated!!!
thanks - greatly appreciated!!!
By Cassedy on 7/14/15 • Reply
I visited speedtest .com and the pop up occurred. It was http://
macsecurities pop up. A force quit was the only successful approach to
this. Thanks.
in response to Cassedy
By AppleClubSupport on 7/14/15 • Reply
I'm guessing that you were looking for speedtest.net, as opposed to speedtest.com, when you saw the pop-up. speedtest.com appears to be a knockoff site that redirects to "dntrax.com," which is responsible for the pop-up.
By hwgray on 7/14/15 • Reply
get-system-scan.com is another one. I got out of it by quitting Safari
and relaunching it with the Shift key pressed, as you suggest.
Unchecking Enable JavaScript in Safari Prefs also works. Unfortunately,
doing that means that you'll have to re-check it, in order for a lot of
other sites that you *do* want to see to load.
FWIW, the script is, "data:text/html,<script>window.close();</script>"
FWIW, the script is, "data:text/html,<script>window.close();</script>"
By Klee on 7/16/15 • Reply
Thank you!!
By Was on 7/16/15 • Reply
I stupidly paid the first time and I guess they installed something.
That was 4 months ago and now I got another popup. Applemaccare.us.
Naturally when I called and told them it was a scam and I was not paying
anything, the guy hung up.
in response to Was
By AppleClubSupport on 7/16/15 • Reply
Thanks for letting us know about that. That page looks particularly nasty, as its background looks like the Apple homepage, replacing Apple's support numbers with their own.
By terriflowersbull on 7/16/15 • Reply
Thank you so much! My apple support has expired, so being able to get
this answer from your online community was a God send. I truly
appreciate the breadth of information and your attention to detail.
By Austenspudding on 7/16/15 • Reply
Megashare.info will cause this. Dont visit.
By Kat on 7/17/15 • Reply
Thanks so much! Great helpful article!
By JP on 7/17/15 • Reply
http://mac-virus.info ...... got this yesterday. Called the number
(thinking it was probably a scam) and talked to the guy on the other end
just to see who it was and what they wanted. He claimed he was safari
and google chrome tech support. He wanted to know my computer type, the
age of it and what I was using at the time the message popped up. He
told me a few steps to do and told me that macs do not get viruses so it
was probably caused by a website that I had recently shopped on. He
claimed the only way to fix the problem was to go to accessmypc.net and
enter the code he gave me, which would then grant him access to my
computer so he could "clean out the bugs". He told me there was nothing I
could do on my own, the only option was to have him "help" me. He
claimed that even if I got a new computer the bugs would still be linked
to my information. (scary if you don't know this is a scam). He
insisted many times to grant him access to my computer. He even yelled
at me on the phone for questioning him about why I had to grant him
access. The whole time, I knew this was a scam so of course I didn't
give him any information about myself. He tried to scare me into giving
him this information, so at that point I just hung up and felt bad for
anyone who actually did give them their information. These guys are good
at scamming and convincing you that you need their help, but do not
fall for it !!!!
By DACC7984 on 7/21/15 • Reply
Got a pop up from "maconlinesupport.info" saying to call 215-600-4011. complete scam!!
By Susannahz on 7/24/15 • Reply
THANK YOU!!!! I'm on a deadline and that is awful. I had to use my
phone to find this fix- you saved my life thanks again! ❤️
By Danii14 on 7/27/15 • Reply
Hi,
Thanks for the above a great help! I stupidly called the number and the accessed my computer showed me a bunch of stuff. I ended up telling them I wouldn't pay as I realized it was a scam when he tried to open FaceTime!!
He did however ask if I was on wifi and now I am stressing out that he has access to other devices on the wifi network is this true? If so how do I prevent that? I have already wiped my mac as suggested!
Thanks for the above a great help! I stupidly called the number and the accessed my computer showed me a bunch of stuff. I ended up telling them I wouldn't pay as I realized it was a scam when he tried to open FaceTime!!
He did however ask if I was on wifi and now I am stressing out that he has access to other devices on the wifi network is this true? If so how do I prevent that? I have already wiped my mac as suggested!
in response to Danii14
By AppleClubSupport on 7/27/15 • Reply
Having already wiped your Mac, there is nothing else you need to do. They cannot access other devices.
By missykins on 7/28/15 • Reply
Thank you so much for your help - I got the popup from this URL:
http://mac.remove-pop-ups.com/caution/risk.php
http://mac.remove-pop-ups.com/caution/risk.php
By duberman on 7/29/15 • Reply
Thank you so much, really made my day!!!
the url in my case was
http://helpsupportsystemalert.net/safari-error.htm
the url in my case was
http://helpsupportsystemalert.net/safari-error.htm
By gertrudegratitude on 7/29/15 • Reply
Hi,
Thank you so much for this in-depth step-by-step page about pop-up blockers. I was seriously worried when something came up like this and I can't close Safari. I'm pretty sure the pop-up came from macsecurityissue.com (but there's a small chance I'm wrong since I was panicking). I had to resort to removing com.apple.Safari.plist. https://www.facebook.com/*****/posts/***** this is where I got it from. :/
Again, thanks!
Thank you so much for this in-depth step-by-step page about pop-up blockers. I was seriously worried when something came up like this and I can't close Safari. I'm pretty sure the pop-up came from macsecurityissue.com (but there's a small chance I'm wrong since I was panicking). I had to resort to removing com.apple.Safari.plist. https://www.facebook.com/*****/posts/***** this is where I got it from. :/
Again, thanks!
[Edited by moderator for: link]
By Mercedes on 7/31/15 • Reply
So pleased I found this site. Safari would not load w/o this almost
full screen notation that Adware had infiltrated, or such, Safari. Not
sure of the other information on the page. It was two (2) weeks ago
that it happened and shutting down Safari, the Mac Mini, etc would not
keep the page from showing up when trying to open Safari. I used my
laptop until today and found the site and tried opening Safari while
holding the Shift Key: ALAS all is fine and I thank you, and others who
commented. very much. Was a simple solution that made me very happy.
THANK YOU.
By Madark on 8/01/15 • Reply
The article was very helpful. The first step didn't work, because the
scammer had blocked out all the options on the Safari menu bar. Going
further, I closed the application, then did the shift/open trick and it
opened in a clean copy. The offending instance was showing in the tiled
(recently opened) windows and I deleted those windows. Then I went to
History and deleted the past few day's history, hoping that will help
prevent recurrence.
One note - there was a key sequence of control-W or command-W given in the article for force quitting an application. That does not work with the version of OS that we are running. We have to use command-Q for a force quit.
Thanks
One note - there was a key sequence of control-W or command-W given in the article for force quitting an application. That does not work with the version of OS that we are running. We have to use command-Q for a force quit.
Thanks
in response to Madark
By AppleClubSupport on 8/05/15 • Reply
The article correctly states that Command + W is for closing the tab in Safari, and Command + option + esc is for force quitting. Many of these pop-ups prevent Safari from being closed with a normal quit (Command + Q, as you state).
By Robert on 8/06/15 • Reply
Hi, I don't normally comment on things like these but I'm just so
grateful. Unfortunately whatever I had was powerful so I had to
completely remove the safari file and restart, but it worked and that
****** popup is gone. Thanks so much for this page, it was extremely
helpful and easy to understand. Far better than any apple support I've
ever received.
By robertf on 8/06/15 • Reply
Walked through the steps. Deleting the plist was the magic bullet. Thanks!!
scam site was www.u-tull.com
It wanted you to call 1-844-755-8931 to speak with a Microsoft tech. All manner of scary phrases about data loss if you shut down safari or rebooted.
scam site was www.u-tull.com
It wanted you to call 1-844-755-8931 to speak with a Microsoft tech. All manner of scary phrases about data loss if you shut down safari or rebooted.
By closecall on 8/09/15 • Reply
http//67search.com message popped up saying about a virus was detected
and it tells you to call for support 855-409-2027. I called but didn't
give any info to them. They said they were Apple support. I was directed
to a site after I was told how to force quit Safari And open up a site
called "showmypc.com" I was suspicious when I got to this. I ended the
call because I had to work and decided to look this later which I'm glad
I did. I think my computer is safe.
By kelporox on 8/15/15 • Reply
None of these steps have helped me get rid of the ad! The ad is from mac-protection-care.info and states "Are you sure you want to leave this page?
Critical Security Warning! Your Mac is infected with a malicious adward attack.
Please contact apple support at (844) 502-1063 and provide error code WBACK7917 to scan and resolve any potential threats to your personal and financial information, which was being tracked by suspicious connection.
Consequently we are performing additional security checks to verify the source of the attack and have halted all your system resources in order to prevent any additional damage to your system and information.
Please call customer service at (844) 502-1063 to resolve issues."
The ad window extends past the bottom of my computer screen so there is no option to press okay or leave the page.
I did not call the number and went through to delete the files from library preferences, etc. Safari preferences is grayed out and I can't shut down the computer or quit safari. 😕
Do you have any ideas on what to do?
Critical Security Warning! Your Mac is infected with a malicious adward attack.
Please contact apple support at (844) 502-1063 and provide error code WBACK7917 to scan and resolve any potential threats to your personal and financial information, which was being tracked by suspicious connection.
Consequently we are performing additional security checks to verify the source of the attack and have halted all your system resources in order to prevent any additional damage to your system and information.
Please call customer service at (844) 502-1063 to resolve issues."
The ad window extends past the bottom of my computer screen so there is no option to press okay or leave the page.
I did not call the number and went through to delete the files from library preferences, etc. Safari preferences is grayed out and I can't shut down the computer or quit safari. 😕
Do you have any ideas on what to do?
in response to kelporox
By AppleClubSupport on 8/16/15 • Reply
Since the pop-up prevents you from quitting Safari, you need to force quit. Instructions for that were included in this article; please review them. If you cannot get it to work, download our ScamZapper application, and choose "Troubleshoot Pop-up" from the main menu.
By GullibleMom on 8/15/15 • Reply
I received a pop-up that said something like:
"The last website you visited has infected your Mac with a virus."
"Press OK to begin the repair process."
I clicked the OK button because I didn't know to force quit. The pop-up closed. Nothing seemed to download. Do you think my Mac is infected because I clicked OK?
"The last website you visited has infected your Mac with a virus."
"Press OK to begin the repair process."
I clicked the OK button because I didn't know to force quit. The pop-up closed. Nothing seemed to download. Do you think my Mac is infected because I clicked OK?
in response to GullibleMom
By AppleClubSupport on 8/16/15 • Reply
Hi GullibleMom,
It's definitely not infected. The only times scams like these can infect a Mac is if you let it, i.e. allowing the scammers remote access, or running a program that their website downloaded. Just double-check your downloads folder, and delete anything you don't recognize.
By G O'Rilla on 8/17/15 • Reply
Thank you. You have saved me from a undismissable pop-up that threatened to take my device details.
By EC on 8/19/15 • Reply
URL: System-virus-detection.com
Followed the recommendation to trash the file. The pop-up no longer appeared. Very thankful for this article!
Followed the recommendation to trash the file. The pop-up no longer appeared. Very thankful for this article!
By Ag on 8/21/15 • Reply
THANK YOU!! I got a similar pop up from system-virus-detected{dot}com
I was immediately suspicious bc it said "windows firewall infected... Please visit your nearest windows service center" BUT I'm on a Mac using Safari.. Haven't used a windows computer in years!! I clicked ok to try to close but another pop up came up immediately which was so long it went off the page & I couldn't do anything so I force closed Safari & got on my phone to google this issue! So glad I read this before reopening safari.. I turned off wifi and then reopened safari & closed all of my tabs.. I also deleted my history from Mac & phone... Are there any other steps I need to take to protect myself? The pop up is gone.. I'm just concerned because I clicked "ok" on the first pop up.. I did NOT call the number or do anything else! Thank you again for taking the time to help us all!!
I was immediately suspicious bc it said "windows firewall infected... Please visit your nearest windows service center" BUT I'm on a Mac using Safari.. Haven't used a windows computer in years!! I clicked ok to try to close but another pop up came up immediately which was so long it went off the page & I couldn't do anything so I force closed Safari & got on my phone to google this issue! So glad I read this before reopening safari.. I turned off wifi and then reopened safari & closed all of my tabs.. I also deleted my history from Mac & phone... Are there any other steps I need to take to protect myself? The pop up is gone.. I'm just concerned because I clicked "ok" on the first pop up.. I did NOT call the number or do anything else! Thank you again for taking the time to help us all!!
By Raj - Nadason on 8/27/15 • Reply
Excellent instructions - thank you fixed my adware pop up problem just like that - thank you
By Cam on 8/29/15 • Reply
Macprotection.info was the name of the site that took over my computer.
Thanks for the help!
By KG on 8/30/15 • Reply
On my iPhone 5S, as I was opening a WP article a pop up offered me a free iPhone 6. Site was http://apple.com-luckywinner.com
By Cole on 9/01/15 • Reply
I got 2 of these on the same day, the first one I force-quitted so fast I only got the words "computer" and "Infected". I thought this was real once I got bombarded by the second one on a whole different website prompting me to get mackeeper. It even said "Earlier today you got infected" so it was very believable. At the time I didn't know what mackeeper was. Thankfully I removed it along with all its hidden files before I entered any personnel information.
By taymichaels on 9/01/15 • Reply
thank you! I had one of these popups that was blocking my safari, so i used chrome to get access to this site. also i reccomend using chrome actually 😊
[Edited by moderator]
By thecutevegan on 9/01/15 • Reply
I finally solved my problem thanks to this person!!!
BrooklynScholar says:
February 28, 2015 at 4:35 pm
Try this.. apple logo menu> system preferences> general> select "close windows when quitting an app"> open safari then immediately make sure to quit Safari using the menu option or command+Q. once you relaunch safari the problem should be resolved. worked for me. (this might not work if you can't get safari to "quit"....... "force quit" is not the same)
By Pmackim on 9/02/15 • Reply
Securityalert-report.info/mac
By UpTooLate on 9/04/15 • Reply
Mine was mac-protection.com, and the number was 808-518-4618.
I freaked out and called, but started to get suspicious when there was no mention of the company name or of Apple when it was answered. As I started talking to the guy, I was researching the phone number and the supposed website on my iPad. The guy asked if he could have remote access to my computer while I was reading it was a scam. I told him I'd have to call him back and hung up. Then I followed the instructions here, and everything seems fine now. THANK YOU. Time to stop surfing the web and go to bed.
By lorie on 9/07/15 • Reply
ur a lifesaver! it worked!!! thank soooo much!!!
By soorganized on 9/07/15 • Reply
Thank you so much for covering all the possible solutions so thoroughly. Updating OSX Yosemite, starting Safari while holding down the shift key and restarting Safari from a different page did the trick.
Just an FYI: the message I got made it look like Norton AntiVirus had done an online scan (I don't have Norton AntiVirus) and identified a trojan (Deal Ply) and spyware bot. The screen would freeze and I was warned that turning off the computer would lead to data loss. Of course I was directed to call a toll free number where someone would help me solve my problem.I just turned off my computer, did not launch Safari when I rebooted, and used Google Chrome to search for an answer, which is how I found your helpful advice. My neighbor's browser was hijacked the same way and she called the toll free number. She was told to download software to give them control of her computer, at which point she finally realized it was a scam.
Thanks a million for saving me lots of time and aggravation.
By Monty on 9/09/15 • Reply
What do I do if I'm having this same issue on my phone?
By Pvelicky on 9/09/15 • Reply
Had a security error popup from this URL (below) that prevented all safari actions, even closing safari. I had to force quit via activity monitor. The suggestion of holding shift worked for me and the issue hasnt returned on subsequent opens. Thanks!
http://mackeeperapp.mackeeper.com/landings/123.8/?affid=mzb_218.15794100.1441820192.4.mzb&utm_source=bdvr&utm_medium=cpm&utm_campaign=mk_bdvr_us_sp171_1238arr_7jul&utm_term=&utm_content=&userDefiner=mzb_2321&trt=29_342516611&alert=1&tid_ext=1686604&c3=arrow
By mlml12 on 9/09/15 • Reply
Mine came from
"secuirtyalert-report.info" saying that my Apple computer has been locked, the sSystem has been infected due to an unexpected error. Gave me a number to call (1-844-443-3868) "immediately to unlock your computer"....etc. Embarrasingly, I did call. But the number was out of service. I checked and did not see any downloads.
The alert from them was actually terrifying. I couldn't go to any of my other windows, and it blared a very loud alarm - like a fire alarm. I ended up just holding the power button until my computer shut off, and then turned it on again. It is back to normal.
By cdas on 9/12/15 • Reply
Very, very helpful. I needed to use all of the recommendations to finally remove this pop up! BTW I called the number and started getting help from someone with Indian accent and then he asked to join my computer and that was the signal it wasn't legitimate. I asked for his company name and website and he would not share that!
By Kasia on 9/12/15 • Reply
My pop-up is now not letting me even force quit safari or let me shut down my computer. I had to hold my power key to shut it down and restart it. The site was macprotection.info/error/ something else... These pop-ups are really starting to get annoying...
By Rookie on 9/14/15 • Reply
Hey! I got the pop up saying that a virus had entered my system and to press "OK" to start the process to get rid of the virus. I didn't press it, just went for the force quit of Safari and then restarted my mac. When I started it again and went to Safari, everything was normal. Anyway, I wiped all history and cache from my Safari. So, probably a stupid question but just to make sure, this kind of stuff can't somehow actually introduce a virus to your computer right? And getting rid of the pop up is enough, there's no need to go through with all the other steps? I was thinking on installing the free version of ClamXav, the one they offer on their web for 30 days, but I now I don't know if I need it. My computer is working properly and the pop up hasn't reappeared. Thank you for taking the time to make this article, it has been a great way to learn more about these *************.
in response to Rookie
By AppleClubSupport on 9/14/15 • Reply
You are correct on both accounts; the mere presence of the pop-up cannot infect your Mac, and just getting rid of the pop-up is enough.
command W - as safari was opening - worked.
not at any other time. thanks for this.
By sus on 9/16/15 • Reply
Add this one to the list. Happened today.
mac-securities-warning-sys.info/y/
By DavidinSantaCruz on 9/17/15 • Reply
Thank you for your well-written, easy-to-follow guidance in getting rid of this kind of Safari browser pest.
My particular attack came from http://macprotection.info/error/i5p4&har1ngpa&w0rdse73pa&codeorrunk59nownissuer54datatheft1rd154gferdcr&eiGZtrVMrBG9iHvASFascrerr584user&idorcodese73pass.html
This pest disabled all of my Safari menu items. I was able to resolve the issue by moving the Safari plist file to the trash, and restarting my Mac.
By kring on 9/18/15 • Reply
This is great, holding down shift key fixed my problem! thanks so much!
By KatM on 9/22/15 • Reply
pop up from http://mac-onlinehelp.info. with phone # 1.808.518.4601 (Toll Free). I called and they told me they were independent - I hung up.
By ShannonSouth4 on 9/22/15 • Reply
Is there any way to not delete everything on the computer if I watched (while I gave them control of my computer) and they did not install anything? I just have so many pictures and documents saved and I don't know how to go about getting them back if I delete everything.
in response to ShannonSouth4
By AppleClubSupport on 9/22/15 • Reply
If you are positive they didn't install anything, you can probably get away with not erasing the computer. The only other thing you would need to do then is call your bank to report the fraud if you paid them any money.
in response to AppleClubSupport
By ShannonSouth4 on 9/23/15 • Reply
Thank you so much. This was such a helpful site; I couldn't find this information anywhere.
Thanks again.
By Jennifer on 9/23/15 • Reply
Thank you so much, this is just what I needed. Saved me much frustration and what would have certainly been a long phone call to Apple care.
By personnn01 on 9/24/15 • Reply
Had a detective screen pop up on my macintosh and not to sure wether it is safe to precede through, the URL is:http://apple.com----macupdate.co/healthcheck/VIRUS__FOUND.htm?os=OS%20X%2010.10%20Yosemite&city=Broadbeach&ip=58.173.218.62&device=DESKTOP&brand=Desktop&country=AU&browserversion=Safari%208&isp=Telstra%20Internet&site_id=&voluumdata=vid..00000000-d737-4be5-8000-000000000000__vpid..664e3800-62ab-11e5-875c-760669ea4b86__caid..d054d6fb-029d-4991-a362-965994ae4c0a__rt..D__lid..f6de71d4-8b50-4829-92dc-1965006c6e86__oid1..437c26ed-9a62-497e-b7f5-b3cc1f07db8f__var1..yankee-pac-5rBsUCBB__var4..NON-ADULT__var5..POPUP__rd..__aid..__sid..
By BigDave on 9/24/15 • Reply
thanks
By sean on 9/24/15 • Reply
I didn't try any of the steps yet, but it sounds good sequence of steps to take. I got the following popup:
+--+
http://macpc-utilities.com
Are you sure you want to leave this page?
MAC iOS Alert
This security update provides a fix for SSL
connection verification. For information on the
security content of this update and to unlock
the MAC iOS please visit www.support.apple.com Or
call 1-844-259-0709.
Call for immediate Assistance 1-844-259-0709
+---+
As indicated in the article, the popup is long so the check box and the OK button are off the screen.
Thanks again,
Sean
Vancouver, Canada
By smileysnwbrdr on 9/24/15 • Reply
THANK YOU!!! I got a popup from https://usamac.s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/error-mac.html. I turned off wifi, had to force quit safari (most options were greyed out like you mentioned, and the popup scrolled way past bottom of screen, so I couldn't even see the button except when I drug the window around), and then I re-opend safari while offline and closed the offending popup, quit safari again, turned wifi back on and re-opened safari. Seems to be back to normal now. I don't see any downloads that happened.
By eris on 9/25/15 • Reply
Thanks. Excellent and comprehensive article. Before I wiped out the various files that screwed up my session I dug through the LastSession.plist file. Here's the malware URL (at least the first part. I don't want it to replicate)
macprotection.info/error/ ... and then a lot of injection data...
By Ms. Garcia on 9/25/15 • Reply
This was incredibly helpful. Thank you so much for posting this. A website that was pretending to be from CNN selling iphones for $1 popped up and it would not let me close it out. I had to turn off the internet like you suggested to relaunch Safari safely. Thank you again!!!
By Steve on 10/02/15 • Reply
The Safari preferences were greyed out, and everytime I clicked the fake warning dialog, another tab would open and another dialog would pop up. I had a lot of other Safari windows open, so I did not want ot reset and lose all that. What worked for me was to hold and press cmd-w for a few seconds to buffer up a bunch of "close tab" commands, and then press the return key to dismiss the dialog box. After doing that quite a few times, I slowly reduced the number of scam tabs open and eventually got them all closed. Have to be careful not to overshoot and close windows you want to keep.
By CinAus on 10/03/15 • Reply
The pop-up i received was from c.karmavil.info
By Margaret on 10/08/15 • Reply
Just had this issue on my iPhone 6 after doing the latest 9.2 update.
Tried to go to a site that was .org and put .com, got hijacked with a warning message from "iosissue.com" that my device was unsecure and I needed to contact "Apple" at some number
By Savvy on 10/08/15 • Reply
Hi,
A pop up appeared on Safari giving me a number to call claiming to be Apple. I cannot use the Safari browser at all due to this pop up. Regrettably I called the number and let them remotely get into my laptop!!!! I knew something wasn't right, but I wasn't sure! I can't believe I fell for this. I didn't give them any money although they were being very pushy which was a dead giveaway! However I did give them my name and birthdate. What can I do now to make sure they haven't accessed my private info? Please help.
in response to Savvy
By AppleClubSupport on 10/08/15 • Reply
I would suggest speaking to the Account Security team at Apple right away. To do that, call them at their main number, 1-800-MY-APPLE (this phone number is also on the Apple website), and ask to speak to the account security team. I would also suggest filing a complaint with the FTC here.
By kimdthankful! on 10/09/15 • Reply
THANKS! This article saved my life! Shift worked great! I forgot to right that url down. I was just so glad to get rid of it.
Thanks again!
By Sandy on 10/10/15 • Reply
Just got scammed by "CODELOCKE Solutions. There web address is: sales@codelocke.com
By Grateful on 10/11/15 • Reply
Cheers for the advice. I'd managed to shut the voice that blared out of my speakers and the blue 'warning' page down by a combination of cmd-W and leave page clicks. Can't remember exactly. But this information helped to make a next occurrence less stressful so thanks.
Didn't get the pop-up name but have the link I clicked that I believe it came from. Not sure whether it will help but I'll add it here anyway: http://17f5d8tjo2zhuc17z3wug0qkb8.hop.clickbank.net/
Take care all, surf safe!
By K dub on 10/11/15 • Reply
Thank you!
By retired on 10/13/15 • Reply
same thing happened to me. I called the number and someone with an Indian accent answered. I hung up
By Simon Hampshire on 10/20/15 • Reply
http://h.karmavil.info
Pop up came up and wouldnt close down. with each reappearence the threat against me was increasing according to the message. Had to close down safari completely to get rid of it.
By Gushygrl on 10/21/15 • Reply
Thank you. I was on Safari on my iphone looking for phone ringtones when this occurred. I did call the number 800-717-9850 and was put on hold then disconnected. Your website was a lifesaver! Thank you again.
By Keli on 10/23/15 • Reply
thank you!!! Holding shift while relaunching safari worked for me on my MacBook OS X Yosemite 10.10.5
By TonyT on 10/24/15 • Reply
Hugely helpful, easy to follow advice that solved my problem immediately. Thank you so much for your valuable work.
By Thriftster on 10/25/15 • Reply
The information provided in this article solved my problem in seconds! It was easy to follow and right on point.
By Ab on 10/28/15 • Reply
http://open-issue-needs-helping-183.com/10/a/Mac-Alert/UK/index.htm
This little devil couldn't even be fixed by turning internet off and reloading safari - had to lose all my other open tabs
By Chris on 11/03/15 • Reply
It Worked. Thank you
By Pop on 11/04/15 • Reply
Thanks your steps worked.
By Mac Doktor on 11/05/15 • Reply
Just ran across one not in the list (I did search):
"mypcheal.com"
OS 10.9.5, Safari 9.0.1, ScamZapper 1.4
If there were buttons they were so far down that they were off the bottom of the screen.
I have screen shots if needed.
Great software. Thanks.
By xvegietim on 11/12/15 • Reply
This post is useful because of the added mention of "restarting Safari".
The problem is, if this pop-up is here when I quit Safari, it may be back when I start it up again. Pressing "command w" immediately on startup, before the page loads, will keep the page from coming up. The alternative is to accept Safari's offer to not reopen tabs, but if you were running multiple important tabs this can be troublesome.
By KEY on 11/12/15 • Reply
I got a pop up from macosguard.com stating a website I visited has a virus and to click "ok" to fix. I used the first tip listed, and it did get rid of the pop up.
By KMphillips on 11/14/15 • Reply
Mac.security.alert.com!
By thankful on 11/16/15 • Reply
Thanks so much for clear easy directions to take care of this.
I arrived at the article because of another one not listed.
http://fixiosappear.com
By Wishingwells17 on 11/21/15 • Reply
THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!! OMG this article was such a life saver.
By Maeby on 11/22/15 • Reply
I have a pop up that is telling me to call a number. Not only will the tab not close, but it won't let me quit safari or even turn off my computer. It won't let me do anything with Safari. Please help?
By Ezra on 11/22/15 • Reply
These pop ups are driving me insane. Here is another site:
macosxalert.com
These spam alerts are definitely getting more advanced and aggressive. I used to get them only every once in a while, but now I get them every single time I try to download something. It's ridiculous.
Happy Thanksgiving. If you see this every time you download something, may I assume that you are getting all of your downloads from the same site? I recommend avoiding that site. It's usually a good practice to only download software from the developer's website, or the Mac App Store.
By Black Cat on 12/01/15 • Reply
Five staràand more! Thank you!!!
By Gab on 12/05/15 • Reply
Got the website apple.com-safetyalert.com
By mojoB on 12/06/15 • Reply
Thanks so much, I actually called, a boiler room in India, was directed to enter a 6 digit code on www.rescueme.1, phone number 1-888-261-7455.
I was told it would cost $199, a "nominal fee". I hung up and used my other browser to find this article. I did force quit and restarted Safari while holding shift key, and it seems to be fine.
Should I still trash the file in library- com.apple.Safari.plist? There seems to be another as well --
com.apple.Safari.plist.6Puyjwv. This has been a really difficult year, you have no idea how appreciative I am. Thank you
You can stop once you find a solution that works for you to get rid of the pop-up. You do not need to keep going. However, when they asked you to enter that code, did you comply? Did you allow them remote access? If not, you are okay, but if so, please see the "What if I Called the Number" section in this article.
in response to AppleClubSupport
By mojoB on 12/06/15 • Reply
I escaped by the skin of my teeth, at least that's how it feels, they hadn't given me the code yet, and I hadn't given them any info. When I asked about how much they expected me to pay, they answered and I hung up.
Again, thanks so much. A real knight in shining armour.
By coolumkids on 12/08/15 • Reply
Very helpful article. Different graphics - a big red Apple logo and a phone number. URL storage.googleapis.com
By omh_66 on 12/11/15 • Reply
Pop up warning http://macsafarihelpline.info
Gives a phone number to call?
By SwagMan on 12/13/15 • Reply
Similar happens ON EVERY SINGLE BROWSER AND IS SO ANNOYING, AND IMPOSSIBLE TO CLOSE WITHOUT TURNING COMPUTER OFF!
If you're seeing these pop-ups that frequently, you probably have adware as mentioned at the beginning of the article. I would suggest running a scan with MalwareBytes: https://www.malwarebytes.org/antimalware/mac/.
By LD on 12/14/15 • Reply
Should I be concerned if i clicked the "leave page" option? if so, what should i be looking for?
in response to LD
By AppleClubSupport on 12/15/15 • Reply
There is no cause for concern. You were actually quite lucky, as most of these pop-ups do not have a "Leave Page" button at all! It probably just had some message trying to dissuade you from leaving the page, but if the option was there, then there was no harm in clicking on it.
By Hawaii Mac on 12/14/15 • Reply
Thank you, thank you! Had a real time of it on Safari this afternoon until I found your site. Followed your directions and all is back to normal. I wished I had seen this a couple of years ago as I fell for a "virus" scam right after we got a new MacBook Air. Live and learn I suppose. Fortunately, it never manifested into anything other than a one time payment.
By SD2013 on 12/14/15 • Reply
This just happened to me and unfortunately i was stupid enough to call. the number was 1-866-202-1568 and it was a very pushy woman on the phone with an Indian accent. the website that i found in my browsing history that would prompt the pop up was logmein123.com or something very similar. I downloaded some software like rescueme or something but deleted it and i'm trying to make sure i got everything off my computer. Hope this information can be useful to others.
By jimpres on 12/20/15 • Reply
Just had this happen to me Shift key while opening Safari did it. Thanks
By montrealQC on 12/21/15 • Reply
I recently hit a new one not listed:
http://apple.com-safetynotice.com/
By randzil on 12/21/15 • Reply
Super appreciate the support here. The next to the last step worked for me. And I now have ScamZapper. Hope this does the trick. thanks again!
By Jsbaker1 on 1/04/16 • Reply
thanks!
By Emma on 1/07/16 • Reply
URL: opportunity-digest.biz/matos/?u1=10802
The pop-up has two options: stay on page, or leave page. It tells me to click the "leave page" option to get £35,000 or whatever. Can't close it using keys, can't close it from the drop down menu for Safari. Tried forcing a restart, which got blocked by the application Safari, then tried shutting it down and the same thing happened. Finder wouldn't work for some reason. Had to force quit.
How can I stop this next time?
By kwhit44 on 1/10/16 • Reply
idk if the author will ever read this, but thank you so much! I was freaking out bc some website popped up and then like 10 odd tabs popped up with unknown website names then safari popped all these weird warning that wouldnt go away. I couldnt even open safari on my mac. Thankfully i had firefox. It's fixed now though, thank again. If my parents had found out i would've been dead.
By Ayooitsabby on 1/10/16 • Reply
Genius
By AD on 1/12/16 • Reply
Thanks for the tip to use Web of Trust extention. Downloading that now.
Also, turning off WiFi and using Command-W was what worked for me. Once I did that, I went to History and deleted the offending page that wanted to direct me to the download as well as the original link that I think started it.
The site name for the "media player" download was onefiveliveDOTcom (I think...I'm tired and I already deleted it), and the website I clicked on when it popped up was magicalprintablesDOTcom/index.php?route=product/product&productid=86.
Will see if I can report it to Web of Trust or somewhere. The only other link it seems like it could also possibly have been, looking through History, is hubpagesDOTcom/holidays/Transformers-Rescue-Bots-birthday-party-supplies-and-themed-ideas.
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for the help article here!
By Guido on 1/13/16 • Reply
Using Safari 5.1.10 (but not Firefox) I was redirected to the address when I tyed the address "https:\\it.nissanconnect.eu" I found the following scam page:
apple.com-securealert.com/
I was not able to leave the page until I forced the system to quit Safari. Thank you for your work I found very useful your advices.
By RedBaron on 1/13/16 • Reply
Had a similar issue with the following website - should have read your article before. I clicked on "ok" got a website open that I closed immeaditely. Nothing in "download" folder, so hopefully I have not picked up anything.
http://308zz.super-promo.qele.info/?sov=63633901&hid=ckgskgesgkgkesegec&&redid=6958&gsid=68&id=XNSX.54197%3A%3A1694456550%7C%7C253744334%7C%7C1762090334-r6958-t68
By am1inside on 1/14/16 • Reply
FYI- the following website just took over safari on my mac:
http://macprotectalert.com
By Applets genius on 1/20/16 • Reply
Thanks a lot for this article. Command alt esc did work to shut down safari. Then I held shift while opening safari and the pop ups were all gone. I did call the number to see what if it lead to Apple customer service. But it was so bogus. Person picked up was definetly a male Indian probably based in Mumbai trying to get your credit card info. As soon as I knew it wasn't an apple repesenitive I hung up immediately.
By LIZBETH on 1/21/16 • Reply
2nd time having the problem on my husband's user, and misplaced my notes that fixed. will try these INSTRUCTIONS now and printed.. to keep in a pocket folder. Thank my Jesus doesn't affect other users.. unfortunately due to his health issues, he has 'time' to do Song pop, which seems to be the 2 times that occurred. Thank for the advice. DO YOU KNOW IF (ALONG WITH SCAM ZAPPER) DOWNLOADING MALWAREBYTES ANTI MALWARE FOR MAC WILL HELP WITH SUCH ADWARE TOO? God Bless you and others for the patience to care enough to help guide others. bye
By DTran42 on 1/21/16 • Reply
Hey! Wonderful article. I'm using an iPhone 4, and a popup appeared that took over safari. I couldn't close it, as it would just reopen. I could close safari and do other things on my phone, though. Out of slight worry and curiosity, I did call the phone number in the popup. I could not hear anything, so I hung up about 15-20 seconds in. I shut off my phone and turned it back on again, and Safari is back to normal. Should I be worried that I called the number?
in response to DTran42
By AppleClubSupport on 1/21/16 • Reply
Thank you for the question! Since nothing happened when you called the number, there is no need to worry.
By phz on 1/22/16 • Reply
Many thanks, very helpful article!
Launching Safari while pressing 'Shift' solved the problem for me (pop-up "lp.flywhell.com" saying Safari has a virus detected, start cleaning now).
By Arl on 1/23/16 • Reply
I went down the list and the one that worked for me was relaunching Safari and using the shift trick. Thanks!!!
By Michele on 1/25/16 • Reply
THANK YOU! Hubby is out of town and i struggled for 2 days until I found this article.
By Oak trail 200 on 1/25/16 • Reply
This article helped clear up a netwebs5.xyz flash player pop-up that wouldn't go away.It appeared I was hijacked since every Safari launch resulted in the pop-up returning even with my wi-fi disabled. But after following the instructions I saw it was a nuisance that could be dealt with and I'm restored. Incidentally, my AVG saw this as an HTML/Framer but even when AVG said I was clear, it still hoped up until using this article. Good luck!
By jocomo on 1/27/16 • Reply
Thanks for the help. Holding shift while re-opening Safari did the trick.
[Edited by moderator for: personal information]
By hgwells on 2/02/16 • Reply
Was on stackoverflow.com reading about a question, and someone made a reference to Tux Droid which I clicked on and it was hypertext linked to www.kyosh.com, it redirected to http://fatal-error.xyz... (I did not paste in entire message as that is the delivery method of the error).
By MTV on 2/04/16 • Reply
Thank you thank you thank you! I was about ready to trash safari altogether!! Simply holding down the shift key while opening Safari helped do the trick, who knew!!! Thanks a ton!!
By Kris on 2/05/16 • Reply
Still fighting with it. Http://www.emt7.com. 1-866-405-2214.
By 2333 on 2/05/16 • Reply
I just had this pop up, and I wasn't sure, so I DID call the number. As soon as he asked for information to install, I told him no, that my husband handles all the network stuff and I would have him fix it. I then went through preferences and removed website data. I know I didn't do anything by calling since I gave them no info. But I just want to make sure I don't need to tell Safari to stop logging passwords or anything like that. They don't have access to anything just by having the popup on the page, right?
Thanks!
"They don't have access to anything just by having the popup on the page, right?" That is correct, you do not have anything to worry about in your case.
By Veryhelpful on 2/05/16 • Reply
Thank you for posting this. Got the warning off my phone even tho I lost the webpages I had open. Thanks!! Just went to settings and cleared history.
By Iphone user on 2/06/16 • Reply
Thank you! Simple, effective advice.
By aquanutt on 2/07/16 • Reply
My pop up says "http://www.notices-alert-call. Phone number 1-877-796-1252. Error code WBACK7917 i think I have done everything you said to try. Using my iPad to contact you because I can't use my MAC lap book at all.
By godin on 2/08/16 • Reply
The "computer infected" pop-up came from a listed widget on my MacBook. I was looking at the listed widgets "for the fun of it" and clicked the "Daily Motivational" to download when the pop-up appeared. I actually called the number, suspicious that it would not be apple support and could tell it was not. Safari did not totally lock up and appears to be ok - for now.
By HGSdurham on 2/08/16 • Reply
There's another that appears to be coming from computer-system-message.com
By Pete G. on 2/08/16 • Reply
Pop up problem solved, thank you. Called the number claiming to be Apple Tech Support and asked if they were indeed Apple Support. No response....hung up. Called back and told them to get a real job....they hung up😄.
By shadrock on 2/12/16 • Reply
Had pop ups from http.//apple.com-security.me told me I had a virus and needed a scan. The steps on this page removed it. Thanks.
By Colin Castle on 2/12/16 • Reply
We had a popup from "http://adsmaniasystemwar.online" telling us that our computer was "infected with an adware or malware causing you to see this popup" and telling us that our computer has been blocked. and "Virus System Alert" The scam phone number they gave was 0808 168 5196.
The "Forced Quit" tactic has appeared to work.
By WeaselADAPT on 2/20/16 • Reply
Hi. Thanks. This is the one I encountered:
secureshopingonline.net/US_adcsse/index.html
******System Security At Risk******
ok ... i am one of those people who "may have other tabs open that you do not want to lose."
i know enough about Safari to know that after relaunching it with your Shift key trick (which opens whatever you have designated as your Home Page), you can then get to an option in the History menu to "restore all windows from last session" (or something like that). so, when you gave me the idea of disconnecting from the internet, i thought i would be home free.
i would shift-launch, disconnect, restore all windows/tabs, and start closing the popups and invading tabs while they were unable to repopulate. unfortunately, even while disconnected from the internet (i unplugged my ethernet cable), the closing of the popup still triggered the opening of a new tab and new popup. ugh...
So, two questions:
1. Does this tell you that my hijacker is something more than a JavaScript popup, or that it is a virus in my system, or any other bad news (you know, since it is able to open new tabs even though i'm not online)? I think not but am interested in your opinion.
2. Will I lose all my other tabs by following your "None of this Worked" steps, namely, deleting .plists and .savedstate files? I think it will but am really hoping it won't.
Thanks for all your help!
Those are good questions.
1) No, it's still just limited to the webpage and is not any kind of malware.
2) Yes, unfortunately you would lose the other tabs you had open if you delete those files. However, you can still access those sites from your history.
Before you try that, I would try disconnecting from the Internet, and THEN force quit and relaunch Safari with the shift key held. See if you can restore the window without the scams opening that way.
By achenowe on 2/22/16 • Reply
Thank God for online help. The shift key worked on the second try! This is the second time this has happened. The site was " virus123". I will install the suggested fix. Thanks again, life back to normal.
By jp on 2/28/16 • Reply
http://mac-protection-alert.c o m/error/macalert.h t m l
By Elizabeth O. on 3/09/16 • Reply
Thank you so much for posting this! That was super scary. Something took over Safari and was there even after Forcing Quit and rebooting. I use Firefox for everything important, and only use Safari if I go onto FB, Twitter and sites that I'm unfamiliar with, always clearing it after every session and then closing it entirely. That was a scary reminder that there are creeps. So sad that some people with technical talent chose to use it for harm rather than good. Thank you again for posting helpful information. Fixing the bug was a huge relief. Have a good day!
By TaBuHax on 3/18/16 • Reply
This happened to my Mother today when she was online. She spoke to someone for over 50 minutes and gave them her credit card. Special place in **** for these people
By ejb on 3/19/16 • Reply
Received the message you describe at www.madbubba.com. I used the Forced Quit method to resolve the issue on my mac. Thanks for posting. As a suggestion, add Scam Zapper to the apple store as I am weary of downloading any software outside of the Apple Store (even when the site, like this one, appears legit).
As ScamZapper is written in AppleScript, it does not meet Apple's user interface guidelines for submission to the App Store. It is at least signed with a Developer ID, which although does not absolutely prove legitimacy, it is a good indicator, as Apple can revoke certificates from someone who creates a malicious app. We are looking into at least getting the ScamZapper Safari extension into the Safari Extensions Gallery.
By GoldenHeart on 3/20/16 • Reply
My daughter got a pop up on her iPhone (iOS 9 or later I think) similar to that, where it said to call the number and that her iPhone had been locked due to security reasons. It also said that she should not use her phone because data and information could be taken. Even if this is a scam (and it probably is) should I worry about whether or not they can take information from her phone? Also this appeared in the Google app but was addressed as a safari issue.
As with all pop-ups of this manner, the message is a lie. It's impossible for a webpage to collect a phone's data/files.
If you are having trouble closing out of the pop-up, double press the home button, and swipe upward on the screen showing the Google app. This will force it to close, and when it re-launches it should start fresh.
By kb on 3/22/16 • Reply
My daughter got a pop up on her iPhone (iOS 9 or later I think) similar to that, where it said to call the number and that her iPhone had been locked due to security reasons. It also said that she should not use her phone because data and information could be taken. Even if this is a scam (and it probably is) should I worry about whether or not they can take information from her phone? Also this appeared in the Google app but was addressed as a safari issue.
By Cropsey on 3/22/16 • Reply
My son and I use the same Mac ( Mountain Lion, desk top.)
I am ALWAYS interrupted by those virus pop-ups but he has never had one!
Can someone tell me why?
I can only guess that it is because your son does not visit any websites which redirect to these pop-ups. The next time you see one of the pop-ups, try to take note of what website you were visiting just before it. As a test, steer clear of that site for a while and see if you no longer encounter the pop-ups.
in response to AppleClubSupport
By Cropsey on 3/24/16 • Reply
Thank you for your reply.
However, I don't get those anti-virus pop-ups when visiting various sites... I get them as soon as I open Safari to look at emails. Obviously they got me from somewhere at one time. :)
I, as so many others have, tried all the suggestions given on this site.
I'm forced to use Firefox. I never have a problem there.
I hate not being able to use Safari, Now I use it only to sign in to my second email address.
It would be very convenient...but such is life!
Thanks again...
Cropsey
in response to Cropsey
By AppleClubSupport on 3/23/16 • Reply
Hmmm... that's not good if it happens as soon as you open Safari. One other suggestion would be to open Safari, then go to Safari > Preferences > Privacy > Remove All Website Data. This will give Safari a fresh start.
By Sam on 3/22/16 • Reply
This happened to me . I was the stupid one to call them. So I did , they said that one one was hacking me. They ask led me for a name , birthday and debt number. I only provided them with a birthday and a name but not the debt. I didn't let them access them my laptop either. But don't know , if I'm safe , cuz I have them my name and birthday. Help?
Since you did not let them access your laptop, you are probably safe. I would assume that they were asking for your personal information to try to gain access to your online accounts, or possibly commit identity theft, but I could be wrong. Even if that was their goal, I don't think you gave away enough information for them to do so.
By RK316 on 3/23/16 • Reply
Add url: pmcertification.co.in
This url launched in Safari in response to what was supposed to be an Ad link to Ebay. It went to a pop-up stating it was "From 'http://pmcertification.co/in' & claimed "Windows has detected some suspicious activity from your IP address. Some Spyware may have caused a security breach at your network location."
note: I'm not running Windows. This is pop up is in Safari under Mac OS X.
By itsmesb on 3/23/16 • Reply
I am running Windows through a VM (Parallels) and am wondering should I install ScamZapper in Windows for I.E., if yes, is it based on which Windows Version am I running or I.E. Thanks
The ScamZapper extension is for Safari and is not compatible with Internet Explorer. Safari for Windows was deprecated after version 5.1.7 which is very old at this point, so unfortunately I do not think that ScamZapper would be a viable solution for you.
in response to AppleClubSupport
By itsmesb on 3/24/16 • Reply
Thank you for your support. I was told by Apple when I asked about using virus protection or any other type of proctective software on the Windows side of my Mac, not too worry. They said with Mac the primary operating system any attack would be protected via it. I recently went on Internet Explorer, (a rare occurrence) because of an issue getting on a site with Safari. Within a couple of days I was hijacked, or so I thought with a pop up. It took a while to figure out what it was but once I read these come through your browser I found and downloaded the ScamZapper app. to Safari. Hence the reason for my original question. I wouldn't think simply running a Mac as I was told would automatically protectect I.E. Do you suggest I use a browser extension compatable with IE, if yes which one? Thanks again with any help.
I think there may have been some miscommunication when you talked to Apple. Running OS X will not protect your Windows environment, but perhaps they meant that any infection you get in Windows cannot "spread" to OS X. You are correct that installing ScamZapper in Safari will not protect Internet Explorer. Installing a browser extension for this problem in Internet Explorer would probably be a good idea, but anything IE-related would be out of our field of expertise so I do not know of any.
in response to AppleClubSupport
By itsmesb on 3/25/16 • Reply
Thank you, I appreciate your follow up. I will go on the hunt for an
effective application for Internet Explorer asap. I'm concerned Apple
passed bad advice and will be getting Windows secured also. I've been
extremely lucky as I've had this set-up for 3yr. with only one incident!
By Superga on 3/25/16 • Reply
Thanks, holding the shift key while reloading safari worked! the spam/scam site that popped up is called Browsersupportapp.org. You can add it to the list.
By Mary on 3/26/16 • Reply
Thank you so much! My site was macosx-alerts, and it locked up Safari completely. The only thing that helped was trashing the plist files as suggested here. I am so grateful!
By kat on 3/29/16 • Reply
Thank you! For the list: http://a.karmacap.top/
By Cirrus77 on 3/29/16 • Reply
Thanks so much! Very logical process and quickly cleared up what was turning into a real mess.
By OMGTHANKYOU on 4/01/16 • Reply
THANK YOU SO MUCH I THOUGHT I WOULD LOSE MY LAPTOP AND YOU SAVED IT I OWE YOU
By Scared 83 on 4/04/16 • Reply
I fell for this the other night & I am so stressed abut my identity at the moment. I allowed them to take remote access of my computer, i used a credit card, & i gave them my name, dob, & address!!!!!
I have since wiped my hard drive & changed all my passwords.
But I am still scared.
Everything looked legitimate.
Any advice of what else I can do to put my mind at ease????
It sounds like you have done just about everything that you need to do, though I also noticed that you mentioned that you divulged credit card information to the scammers. If so, a call to your bank is likely in order if you have not done so already.
By XSePtiONaL on 4/10/16 • Reply
Thank you, very much!
I received the "you need to install the latest version of Flash Player" message pop up. This came from dllfilestab.com
After that I received the message that was inescapable that said that i needed to call the Technician in the 1800 737 481. The pop up read; System detected security error due to suspicious activity. Please Contact MAC technicions for help.
This Web address was http://macbrowsersuspicious.com
Cheers for the help 🙂
By L Upton on 4/19/16 • Reply
I got:
win-secure-online-assistance-error.info
I called the number but hung up bc it felt bogus.
By THANKS! on 4/25/16 • Reply
mac-detected-security-error-due-to-suspicious-activity.pcerrorsupport.info
Contact MAC technicians to rectify the issue
Call 1-844-851-6534
By TPIE on 4/28/16 • Reply
You're great! Thanks for sharing your knowledge.
A coworker fell victim to this scam today. She actually called the number, but she hung up when they wouldn't tell her the name of the company (and from my urging once I realized what she was doing, as I had heard the audio from the scam pop-up windows earlier).
In her case, holding shift wouldn't work when restarting. However, disconnecting from the internet did the trick, and now we have you to thank!
For addition to your list above, the scam originated from:
livecustomer-support.com/message/securityalert.html
(still actively triggering the pop-ups at the time of this note).
The pop-up itself read:
Are you sure you want to leave this page?
MAC iOS Alert
This security update provides a fix for SSL connection verification. For information on the security content of this update and to unlock the MAC iOS please visit www.support.apple.com Or call 1-888-597-1473.
Call for immediate Assistance 1-888-597-1473
By Beaches on 5/03/16 • Reply
Shift while restarting Safari worked to get rid of pop up http://detection-alert.in
By ekbueno on 5/07/16 • Reply
We received the popup from "apple.com-systemnotice.com" after visiting the tjmax website online that said our apple is infected by a virus and click ok to repair it. We turned off wifi on my Mac and managed to close the popup page. Luckily we did not click OK and decided to check online on another computer first and discovered this article. Not sure what would have happened if we clicked ok.
By Relieved on 5/07/16 • Reply
Many thanks for your very helpful guidance; after following your detailed instructions I have finally been able to eject the frustrating pop-up that froze my browser - to my profound relief!
Thanks again..
By pbutler50 on 5/11/16 • Reply
Hi, unfortunately none of this worked for me, even every step in the "None of This Worked!" section. Even after trying the disable WiFi trick, the pop-up came right back. And moving all of the suggested files to the trash didn't work either. It just kept coming back. Any other suggestions? Will downloading Scamzapper after the fact help, or does that only prevent new ones? Thanks.
By JillP on 5/13/16 • Reply
Great advice - quitting then turning off the wifi worked for me. Thank you!!
By Paul on 5/16/16 • Reply
Additional URL: server-blocked-appel.com
By macpug on 5/16/16 • Reply
Hi, encountered this one today indicating serious vulnerabilities have been found on the computer. Locked out of Safari. The URL was: sdvoll.com/systemprotection. Associated phone # 888.848.3877.
Deleted the files noted in your wonderful article, then installed ScamZapper (my dad's computer, and he's had this problem several times lately). Didn't realize he hasn't been updating, so running Mac OS 10.7.5 and Safari 6.1.6. He'll be getting upgraded this weekend. Thanks so much for such a great tool You saved me many hours of zapping, reinstalling, etc.
By wwfcwill on 5/18/16 • Reply
Thank you so much, fixed the issue perfectly
By unique_machines on 5/19/16 • Reply
Another malicious URL not listed in the table above....
http://apple.com-----up.date/Mac/Scan/Virusscan
[Edited by moderator for: personal information]
By parul on 6/14/16 • Reply
Hi there,
I have this pop up from www.protectionondesktop.net and it wont go away. I have tried the steps above. Please help!!!
By Flash scam on 6/23/16 • Reply
Hello, I fell for the Flash download scam and was stupid enough to give the scammer access to my computer by downloading Citrix Online Launcher.
I also provided my first name and then entered a support key the scammer provided. when the person gained access, she quickly showed me that my firewall is off and explained why it's important to turn it on. She also asked to have a minute to read the error message :( Soon after that I turned off the sharing access and disconnected my phone conversation. The process took about 5 minutes. So, I suspect something has already been done to my computer.
I am trying to delete citrix from computer but it's prompting for Support Key. Please advise and help! Thank you.
I will make a trip to the Apple store to reformat my computer.
If you're going to have the Genius Bar at the Apple Store erase your drive, then you might as well just wait until then - there is no danger in leaving Citrix on your computer for the time being. Citrix is legitimate software, it's just that the people who were utilizing it were scammers. Once you erase the drive, Citrix will be removed along with everything else.
By Himanshu singh on 6/30/16 • Reply
Great post. Mac is my favourite operating system. Somebody told me that ransomware virus is more prevalent now a days. You have given an awesome elaborated information. I used some best practices to prevent virus on my Mac here they are
[Edited by moderator for: spam link]
By nsomnius on 6/30/16 • Reply
Got a call from a client recently who suspected a virus attack. She is elderly and did make a call to the scammer but got suspicious and it ended at that. The web site with the popup was:
mac-device-detected-virus.info/index.html
It happened via a link in an email. There seems to be no seepage and I had no trouble closing the page and not having it automatically revisited. Thought this might help with your list of known scamming sites.
By Raul on 7/01/16 • Reply
http://us-error-mac-apple.s3-website-us-west-2.amazonaws.com
This is the nastiness that is causing problems for me. So far it keeps relaunching itself after I've done the above suggestions. Not sure if I'm doing anything wrong but I thought I'd at least get it out there.
in response to Raul
By Raul on 7/02/16 • Reply
OK, went back after and followed the ~/Library/ advice and that nailed the pop up. Now I'm getting what seems to be a legitimate pop up advising me that I MAY have junk on my Mac and would I like to clean it up. I guess keep on doing the Library trick until it goes away. BTW- this only happens on Safari. Not Firefox.
in response to Raul
By AppleClubSupport on 7/02/16 • Reply
The pop-up is NOT legitimate at all. I'm guessing, based on the description, that the pop-up was prompting you to download MacKeeper, a well-known scam that will try to extort money out of you if installed. Advertisement pop-up windows like that are not related to the scams described in this article. In order to get rid of it, you either need to stop visiting the site that redirects to or displays the pop-up, or you should check to see if adware was installed.
By Cgame on 7/02/16 • Reply
This information was great and it truly works! Thanks!
By kpatrickcollins on 7/03/16 • Reply
apple.com----support.com is the website that was associated with the pop up that I encountered, if you want to add it to your list.
By mackie on 7/04/16 • Reply
http://apples-support.com
By Watsjax on 7/11/16 • Reply
Got one today. The website is: http://jhgddl.com
By Goku on 7/17/16 • Reply
My sister got the pop up and we called the number. We didn't know what was going on and gave him permission to use the computer thru the support.me thing. Once he had control he showed us thing that were wrong and said that it would be $140 to fix it. Once he said that I hung up and disconnected the control. We tried the "Shift+safari" buttons and it started working. Should we be paranoid about further harm from being done or are we safe? Thanks for your help
in response to Goku
By AppleClubSupport on 7/17/16 • Reply
Since you did grant the scammers remote access, there is a cause for concern, and you should follow the "What if I Called the Number" section in the article.
By Mano on 7/20/16 • Reply
http://systemerrorcodes.xyz/?Paramid=33074_5902576_1654045625_safari_0
That is the address of the popup page, and it seems to happen when I visit the politifact page
[Edited by moderator for: off topic]
By gaiadurga on 7/30/16 • Reply
Thanks a ton! The shift + restart did the trick.
By John B on 8/03/16 • Reply
Thanks a million for your advice. The pop-uo went away after I reset the Safari Preferences, using the first option that you suggested - i.e. delete com.apple.safari.plist.
(Thank goodness for genuine people that know what they're doing)
By John B on 8/03/16 • Reply
Thanks a million for your advice. The pop-uo went away after I reset the Safari Preferences, using the first option that you suggested - i.e. delete com.apple.safari.plist.
(Thank goodness for genuine people that know what they're doing)
By Martini in Michigan on 8/04/16 • Reply
I received a pop-up while on Safari looking at a news link from Drudge Report: The Pop-Up was:
mac-error 06-alert.site
with phone number to call 1-844-867-8991
they support Mac and Windows and want to connect to my computer
So goodbye to them and I hope with Safari Version 9.1.2 that I am safe.
Is this a new scam using ".site"? I don't see this in your list.
By tonybaloney on 8/09/16 • Reply
Hi I have a similar pop up problem on my mac but only on google chrome which I have installed on it. How do I remedy it with chrome?
This is a trusted resource which covers this issue for all major browsers, including Chrome: http://www.thesafemac.com/tech-support-scam-pop-ups.
By JP on 8/16/16 • Reply
another bogus alert:
url:
firewall-alert.xyx
pop-up asks to log-in to:
firewall-alert.xyz:80
By Big Dee on 8/18/16 • Reply
Thank you very much for the information & help!! My MacBook was tripping out on Safari with all these pop ups & threats!! Seem to be working fine again after following these useful steps.. 🙏🏾
By Ryu on 8/21/16 • Reply
Okay so I had the same pop-up after clicking on a website to try wtch some movies online and it stopped me from accessing my safari and took me to my email saying this: IMG_0858.PNG
I'm using my phne when this all happened, so I was curious and called the number and this Indian guy asked for my phnes serial number to check wht the problem might have been, so I have it to him and he went ahead and said my phnes been compromised and there's no other way to fix the problem unless I pay $34.99 for this one time charge bc my "privacy" has expired and I had to pay again. From there it jst sounded off esp when I asked if I could call apple support and ask them about my problem he said no, they won't be able to help u with this problem. So I hung up. is my phne not safe anymore since I did give out my serial number?!!!!! Pls help me
in response to Ryu
By AppleClubSupport on 8/21/16 • Reply
Theoretically, the scammers could report your iPhone as stolen to the police. However, as these scammers are typically overseas, I do not think that it too likely. They could also register your iPhone to themselves if you did not already register it to you. Also, "free" movies online, aside from being a magnet for this kind of pop-up/redirect, are often illegal. If you avoid these sites in the future you should be able to avoid such pop-ups.
in response to AppleClubSupport
By Ryu on 8/22/16 • Reply
Thank you so much and how do i register it to myself?
in response to Ryu
By AppleClubSupport on 8/23/16 • Reply
Go to http://supportprofile.apple.com, log in with your Apple ID, and check to see if it's already registered to you. If not, you will see an "Add Product" link below the last item in the list of your currently registered products.
By Mike M. on 8/24/16 • Reply
The shift key trick worked. Great article.
By Chicity722 on 8/24/16 • Reply
Thank you for this helpful information. I made the dumb mistake of calling and giving them access to my Mac. I grew pretty suspicious and stopped sharing 15 minutes into it. The only thing I downloaded was the GoToAssist but nothing afterward. He tried to show me that my Mac was no longer supported by apple tech support then tried to show me that my firewall was off, then started to show me FireVault. That's when I stopped listening and thought it was a bunch of crap, unplugged my wifi and hung up on him. I have time capsule and will restore to before my Mac was compromised but wondering if I need to worry about any of my other devices that are connected to my wifi. My husband is paranoid that we might be vulnerable just by being turning wifi back on. Also what type of information could the get to besides what they see on my Mac when I share my computer? If I have usernames and passwords stored on my Mac on a password protected excel doc, could they get to that? This has been helpful.... Thanks again!
No other devices can be affected by this. For your Mac, if you are certain that the only thing downloaded was the GoToAssist remote access program, then they do not have access to anything on your Mac after you shut down the remote access. Restoring from the Time Machine backup should be all that you need to do.
By Unaware on 9/03/16 • Reply
I wasn't thinking when the fake alert popped up, which in 20 yrs of using Macs had never happened before. I called the number; the person had me go thru a legitimate 3rd party (citrix go-to-meeting) to utilize their support app. to share my screen with them. Luckily they were, it seems, terribly incompetent and just typed a short instruction into the Terminal app, told me the activities and processes going on indicated my computer had a virus or something -- they may have been leading up to "selling" me a program to fix the problem -- but my supervisor realized it was a scam and told me to disconnect -- how much damage could have been done from Terminal?
in response to Unaware
By AppleClubSupport on 9/06/16 • Reply
If you are not sure of exactly what they did, then you need to err on the side of caution and erase the drive. All of the information you need is in the "What if I Called the Number?" section of the article.
By Jax on 9/26/16 • Reply
Thank you u are my god bless ur soul💜💜💜💜💜💜💜
By hannahbanana on 9/26/16 • Reply
Thank u so much for your help. I was getting so frustrated whenever I would accidentally open safari (because i dont really use it) and there would be these BOGUS warnings!!!! I ended up having to do the last thing about the LastSession and it worked. Appreciate it.
By Ghost on 9/30/16 • Reply
browser: Chrome
just happened when i was going to apply for volunteer work at a place, i typed in the web and boom, loud ass buzzing noise and a web address with a toll-free call on it saying something like apple locks your computer due to virus related issue, forced quit browser and hard shutdown my computer and restarted, everything works great now.
thank you for the article, was wondering wtf just happened lol.
(went into my history and recovered full link) "DO NOT CLICK OR GO TO WEB LINK" browser lock hack: http://apple-update-security-error.info/*******
[Edited by moderator for: link]
By Bob on 10/05/16 • Reply
Thank you so much. Safari on my iPhone was stuck on a page to send an email to some unknown place. Every time I tried to cancel it, it would just circle back. Once I got out of Safari I deleted the history and the problem was fixed.
By alephv0id on 10/24/16 • Reply
my-safari.net is another malicious website.
By Mike S on 11/22/16 • Reply
Thank you. I'd say you're a lifesaver but I don't know how serious the issue was. I clicked on a link and it generated an automatic email to foo@example.com. Whenever I deleted the draft it kept auto populating again.
By Carol on 12/19/16 • Reply
Very helpful - got a full page, red screen, talking pop up which scared the crap out of me! When I called the phone #, my first two clues were that they never answered with a company name and they were there to fix Microsoft Adware. I went so far as to exit Safari and pull up the info on the website he provided. However, I clicked on info buttons while he was trying to get me to give personal info. When I asked him about the info about the company I found, he told me it was free and he was there to help me. When I told him I was going to call Apple, he hung up on me! I am going to use the info provided to fix/stop this nonsense - thank you!