They do come up with new ways to fool you all the time. The latest are fake virus pop-ups.
You are happily browsing the internet on your computer or checking something on your phone and suddenly you get this (usually full page) pop-up telling you in technicolor that you have a virus and you have to download this ‘thing’ straight away. Now, it could say it’s from your anti-virus program (that you might not have installed) or more generic, but it always seems very urgent and concerned for you. And to top it all off, it is usually very difficult to click past it or get out of it any other way than to click on their link.
Whatever you do DO NOT CLICK ON THE LINK or call the phone number they might provide:
it is a scam!
If you can’t get out of it the normal way, you can try these:
- on a Windows computer: click the Task View icon on the taskbar or press Windows
key and Tab - on a Mac computer: press the F3 key or press Ctrl and up arrow
- on an Android phone: press the ‘all apps’ button on the bottom of your screen (either
a square or 3 lines) or swipe up from the bottom of your phone towards the middle
(depending on your navigation settings) - on an iPhone: Swipe up from the bottom of your phone or swipe up from the bottom-
left corner (depending on your phone)
All these will show you your open apps and you can close the offending one by clicking the
X or swiping it up or on a computer by right-clicking and selecting End.
Sometimes these pop-ups will come back and will require more cleaning. You can also try to
disable pop-ups in your browser, but that might break some websites. If you know how, you
could try scanning your computer with your own security software and uninstall any
suspicious apps. Otherwise come and see me or a computer shop to help you out.
Ask Ursula - Tech Help 