The first incident was 2 weeks ago when Butch clicked on a fishing link from his brother. A security warning popped up and froze his browser. It looks all official and gives you the number to call for help. Butch called, but drew the line at giving out credit information—plus they tell you it’s going to cost $300 or more to fix.
It happened to me THREE times just yesterday!! When I clicked on my Lumosity brain training link and then the Regal Cinema link—twice there. These are websites I go to regularly.
And then today, it was Morgan. Of course, she called crying and had the tech guy on the other line (these kids—I wouldn’t have known how to do that!). Anyway, Butch told her to get off the phone with him. He would not release her computer, so Butch told her to tell him that she was calling the police. That did it.
Anyway, the pop-up looks something like this. This is the one I got yesterday along with another that looks exactly like it except for some different wording:
Yes, I do believe is says what it looks like it’s trying to say!!! You are f****d! Talk about adding insult to injury...
It looks all official, but it’s not. Call Apple phone support at 800-275-2273. You will get a recording that there will be a charge for the call (and help) unless your computer is less than a year old. But in the end, you will not pay anything because Apple does not charge for security related issues. They will walk you through the steps to get rid of the pop-up and release your computer. It’s a hassle, but it doesn’t take that long. It took less than 5 minutes to get through and with the help—maybe 15 minutes. I wish I had written down all the steps—but I didn’t and there are too many to remember. The Apple guys are very nice and speak English!!
In addition, the guy had me download this free shareware called Adware Medic:
It cleans up your Mac. They will ask for a donation, but you do not have to donate anything.
That reminds me—if you get anything like MacCleaner, or Clean Your Mac pop ups——don’t click on it. It’s malware too. Learned that lesson the hard way too!
I knew it was only a matter of time before we Mac users would have to deal with this crap. For over 20 years this was not an issue for Macs. These thieves have finally decided that Apple has enough market share to write the malware now.
You just have to beware and don’t fall for any scams.
Let me know if you have had any problems. Also, you can always take your Mac to the Apple store Genius Bar—but you have to make an appointment.
Okay, I hope this helps someone!! Pass it on to all the Mac users that you know.
Thanks for this Barbara. I suppose we have been safe for too long. I am very fortunate to have very tech savvy boys, son also worked for Apple for a few years. I NEVER open anything like this. I will send this around.
ReplyDeleteImproving your firewall and virus protection is a good idea too. We have to listen to lectures from Wookie about this so are fairly well sorted thankfully. Glad that Morgan was able to get her machine unlocked.
ReplyDeleteGreat info and thank-you! I will be on the lookout ...
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