scam?

[shiunn]

Hi all,

Need some advice please. I was surfing on my safari, and was shown a pop-up new tab and a pop-up window (see screen shot). I pressed return to get rid of the pop-up window but it only reappeared. Alt-Q didn't work either. So I force-quit safari instead. Safari is working fine since. I have also done a Reset Safari since.

The website is obviously illegitimate. But my worry is, is there a chance spyware (or other -wares) been installed without my knowledge.

Please advise. Thanks!

 

[blueroom]

It's a scam but won't bother OSX.

 

[firedept]

Yeah scam, seems few of these floating around now. As blueroom stated, will not harm OSX. Usually have to force quit to get rid of them and then all is fine. Was one by the FBI, this one looks to be a new one.

 

[blueroom]

Outstanding grammer skills are a tipoff. Plus the government generally doesn't openly extort their citizens.

 

[MacPC]

...generally doesn't openly extort their citizens.

Are you sure?

 

[Sital]

Are you sure?

The key word was "openly".

 

[Fishrrman]

Ransomware.

Definitely a problem for some PC users who stumble upon it.

I don't believe it can affect the Mac OS.

 

[blueroom]

Ransomware.

Definitely a problem for some PC users who stumble upon it.

I don't believe it can affect the Mac OS.

It's called CryptoLocker, it affects Windows PCs by encrypting their files till they pay a ransom. Of course you could just reinstall Windows and restore from backup but I'm still gobsmacked at how many folks even institutions don't bother doing backups.

 

[AdrianK]

But my worry is, is there a chance spyware (or other -wares) been installed without my knowledge.

No, the message box you're seeing can be displayed by any web page with one line of code. That's why you can see the Safari icon and the URL in the dialog box, to show that it is from that particular website and not the OS.

Ordinarily, your browser would only let the site show that warning once, however they have embedded a load of invisible pages in that page. When you try to close the page, each of the 100 embedded pages is asking you if you are sure you want to leave the page.

 

[old-wiz]

It's called CryptoLocker, it affects Windows PCs by encrypting their files till they pay a ransom. Of course you could just reinstall Windows and restore from backup but I'm still gobsmacked at how many folks even institutions don't bother doing backups.

And even police departments don't bother to make backups.

Wouldn't it be hilarious if some of the NSA Windows machines were infected with ransomware? Just picture the hilarity, followed by military swat teams going after the ransomers.