Threat Database Fake Error Messages 'Warning! Your computer may be infected' Pop-Up

'Warning! Your computer may be infected' Pop-Up

There have been various reports about Web browsers being interrupted by the 'Warning! Your Computer May Be Infected' pop-up, a fake error message used to trick inexperienced computer users. The 'Warning! Your Computer May Be Infected' pop-up is designed to appear to be associated with a legitimate security firm. However, the people responsible for the 'Warning! Your Computer May Be Infected' pop-up are actually marketers or other persons attempting to milk money from inexperienced computer users. Potentially Unwanted Programs associated with the 'Warning! Your Computer May Be Infected' pop-up may cause a variety of other symptoms on affected computers, such as browser redirects, performance issues and changes to the affected Web browsers' settings.

The Goals of the 'Warning! Your Computer May Be Infected' Pop-Up

The presence of the 'Warning! Your Computer May Be Infected' pop-up may not indicate that the affected computer has been compromised. The 'Warning! Your Computer May Be Infected' pop-up may also appear on Web browsers when computer users visit Web pages that have been compromised or that contain potentially unsafe content. An affected Web browser may be also affected by a redirect or open a new tab with content similar to the 'Warning! Your Computer May Be Infected' pop-up. It is important to ignore all the content on the 'Warning! Your Computer May Be Infected' pop-up's message and to avoid calling the phone number on this message. The 'Warning! Your Computer May Be Infected' pop-up is not a legitimate message; instead the 'Warning! Your Computer May Be Infected' pop-up is used as a part of a known online misleading tactic. The full text of the 'Warning! Your Computer May Be Infected' pop-up reads as follows:

'Warning: CPU Virus Alert
Your computer may be infected. System detected 2 Potentially Malicious Viruses: Rootkit.Sirefef.Spy and Trojan.FakeAV-Download. Your personal and financial information may not be safe. To remove viruses, call Tech Support Online Now: 1(888) 643-9730.'

When computer users call the number in the 'Warning! Your Computer May Be Infected' pop-up message, the person on the other end of the line may try to extract privileged information or gain access to the affected computer.

2 Comments

Steven Hoskins Reply

Though the information this page is filled with is true, they left something out; another way that this false message appears is when you sometimes misspell a website name in the URL box. For example, if you want to look up YouTube to watch a cat video or something, but you type:
http://www.outtube.com, or http://www.outube.com (leaving out the 'Y'), this message will appear. These Indian scammers really thought things through by manipulating peoples mind with psychology, social engineering, and making a false message appear because you typed in the wrong URL. Seriously! How many times have you typed in or misspelled a URL like Gooogle, Twitcher, Outube, or Facbok? We do it all the time and these scammers are taking advantage of it!

I received an alert that came through the speaker and onscreen stating that my information was vulnerable and was currently being hacked; very fear-evoking stuff, facebook login, bank information, etc. A window showed a number with Microsoft Professionals displayed with the call number. I didn't call. I checked my windows security and everything was fine. I fell for this in the past once before and paid 1-2 hundred dollars to "fix it" and later on realized it was likely a scam. I wonder about people who do this for a living and it troubles me. If you have ideas about prevention and protection for people from these scams... that would be excellent and your efforts much appreciated! Please warn others - it happened whilst I typed in bananarepublic.com (possibly I typo'd something and that triggered it). Thank you!

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