Malware Categories: Scam

“Critical alert from Microsoft”, or “Microsoft has detected…” is fake online security warning and a tech support scam hosted on a site that spoofs a Microsoft support page. “Critical alert from Microsoft” is there to scam people and steal their passwords. To be clear, Microsoft has absolutely nothing to do with this fake security warning. … Continued

If you find that you cannot access your PC because a “Critical warning” is telling you that your license key has been revoked due to illegal IP, this means two things: first, this warning is fake, your Windows license has not been revoked, and your IP is fine; second, your computer is infected with a virus. … Continued

In case you are experiencing notification that says something about “Customer Service Survey”, chances are that your computer is infected with some kind of potentially unwanted program. If it’s not and you just happen to visit websites that display this message, you are still in danger of getting scammed, because Customer Service Survey is nothing more … Continued

Download-pdfs.com is a download site that is part of a scam to trick people into unwittingly subscribing to an approximately $60 monthly subscription. If you find yourself on Download-pdfs.com, you might have clicked on a malicious link. Don’t worry – Download-pdfs.com itself isn’t dangerous. Just don’t trust the sites that it leads you to. About … Continued

Dwnlds.co is a malicious adware site. It promises to let you download files, win gifts, or receive various freebies – depending on how you got there. But first, Dwnlds.co wants you to complete various offers, including watching ads, doing surveys, installing junkware, and signing up for subscriptions. And, in the end, it does not deliver … Continued

E.tre456_worm_osx is a made-up name of a trojan virus used by scam alerts to scare and attack Mac users. This fake virus warning is displayed on websites with addresses like Apple.com-fixing.live, Apple.com-scan.live, and Apple.com-fast.live. Despite including the words “apple” and “mac”, these addresses belong to scammers. E.tre456_worm_osx claims that it is related to the AppleCare Protection Plan, … Continued

The “verify account” email scam is a malicious attack that uses deceptive emails and fake login sites to steal login credentials. Did you get an email telling you to “upgrade” your email account and threatening that it’ll be shut down if you don’t? That’s the first step of the “verify account” email scam. The scam … Continued

“Error #268D3” (and Error #268d3-xc00037) is a well-known Windows technical support scam. It claims that your computer has been blocked to prevent it from being completely disabled. However, the alert about “Error #268D3” is fake, as is the claim that “your computer has been blocked”. We have analyzed a number of similar scams, so we … Continued

Error code O1AAT has been used by a few instances of a tech support scam. This one uses the phone number 0800-368-9743. The Error code O1AAT alerts are made by people trying to scare you. Tech support scams like Error code O1AAT can cost money and privacy. If you get a pop-up saying “A virus has … Continued

WIN.DLL0151930 is an error code used by tech support scams. It appears online and it claims that your computer is BLOCKED and that you must call a phone number to fix it. Although these WIN.DLL0151930 warnings insist that they represent Microsoft Support, they don’t – they’re created by scammers to trick people into thinking that their … Continued

ERROR # ER36dx9832(3) is a faulty error notification reported by a fake technical support scary website. There are several malicious pages used for the purpose of displaying the frustrating notification. Often the online criminals refer to the help of several hacked or fraudulent resources to force people into calling the specific toll-free helpline, for example, … Continued

ERROR # MS-SYSINFO32 may appear to be like a real Windows system problem, especially paired with the blue screen of death, indicating that there is some sort of a critical issue in your computer that needs to be resolved immediately. However, if you are familiar with online scams and start an investigation of what this … Continued

Excessive Popup Ads or Security Issues Alert Malware is clear attempt to scam users and lure their money. There are two possible case scenarios regarding security issues alert – you are visiting website that was hacked or is displaying this pop-up message on purpose, or your computer is infected with some kind of adware infection … Continued

Exodus is a crypto wallet that you can use to store and transfer your funds. Naturally, it’s become a target for many malicious actors and scammers. Fake apps, websites, and emails use Exodus’s name to scare people into downloading malware or revealing their login info. One of these Exodus wallet scams is the fake update … Continued

Threatening emails with phrases like “I know that you visit 18+ content!” are being sent to people by cybercriminals. These emails say that an intimate video of yours will be sent to your contacts if you don’t send hundreds of dollars to a certain address. Don’t panic – these emails are scams (or very mean … Continued

Did you land on a site saying that, as thanks for your support of Facebook, you were selected to participate in a lottery for some Apple products? Did you win something like, let’s say, a gray iPhone on your last try? And you only need to pay $1 shipping to receive it. It’s unfortunate, however, … Continued

Facebook is sometimes used by criminals to spread viruses, steal people’s information, hijack their processing power, or sell fraudulent products. Facebook is a legitimate website and one of the world’s biggest social networks, miles ahead of its competition. Unfortunately, criminals, scammers, and fraudsters are attracted to big markets and over the years they have come … Continued

“Adblock update required” and “Access to Safari is blocked” are phrases used by scammers to push unwanted apps. If you see a notification on your screen that says “Adblock update required” and tells you to install an app, don’t listen to it. This is just a deceptive ad disguised as a legitimate notification. About the … Continued

“Important Chrome update available” – this warning is used by some pop-up messages online. These are not real updates, however – they’re ads. They’re disguised as important updates in order to get people to click on them. Following the instructions of the “Important Chrome update available” alerts can lead to infection by adware, browser hijackers, … Continued

Fake online scans are being used to promote deceptive and scammy tech support companies. This time, they’re abusing the name of McAfee, a cybersecurity firm. Websites are created and advertised online that perform fake scans, pretending to find “security risks” and “threats” on your computer. Then, in order to solve these imaginary problems, you’re encouraged … Continued

Although real giveaways do happen, all the $1000 gift card prizes for PayPal that I have seen were scams. Certain subscription sites get people to sign up for them by promising them (falsely) that they won a valuable prize, such as a $1000 PayPal gift card. They then require people to sign up with their real … Continued

There are warnings that say “VPN update is recommended” targeting iOS users. These alerts are actually fake ads for potentially unwanted applications. Don’t be alarmed when you see such ads – just close them. If the “VPN update is recommended” ads show up regularly, there might be a problem. You might regularly visit websites that … Continued

Windows Defender Browser Protection is a legitimate web browser extension, but the name is used by scammers to spread scary pop-ups to take advantage of people. Fake Windows Defender Browser Protection is a warning that shows up in your web browser after clicking on infected ads. This warning urges you to call a phone number … Continued

Yahoo Answers is a website that, whatever you think of the discussion happening on it, is pretty safe to visit. Sure, you might get a suspicious link posted in an answer now and then, but it’s not really the norm. So, since people trust Yahoo Answers, scammers decided to copy the site’s look and use … Continued

Fastsupport, or Fastsupport.com, is a remote access tool. It allows tech support specialists to help people solve technical issues. Sadly, malicious actors also use Fastsupport to hijack victims’ devices. Fastsupport.com is not malicious itself, but in the hands of a scammer, it can be very dangerous. Because of all the abuse, Fastsupport has become infamous and is often … Continued

Fbkuraless1.live is a malicious site that pops up unexpectedly and shows a message that you’ve won a phone. It uses the names of Google, Facebook, and other companies to appear more legitimate, even though it’s not associated with these companies. Rather, Fbkuraless1.live is associated with various scam subscription sites. Fbkuraless1.live is meant to trick people into registering on … Continued

Findpdf.me is a fake ebook site that calls itself “Book Finder” (no relation). It pretends to offer you to download any book that you search for. The truth is that Findpdf.me is a spam site that does not host any books. Its job is to advertise, to trick people to unknowingly subscribe to expensive but useless services. … Continued

Fake Firefox update alerts, such as “Firefox requires a manual update” and “Important Firefox update available” are scams whose landing pages urge people to install an update for their Mozilla Firefox browser. However, this is nothing but a hoax, a fake update alert actually tries to install an add-on that would hijack the browser for … Continued

‘Flash SD App Required To Proceed’ is a misleading alert that may be produced in Google Chrome and some other browsers. The occurrence of such pop-ups is the evidence of the adware to be currently in control of your browser settings. For this reason, your Google Chrome now functions in quite an unstable manner, your … Continued

“Four virus” is a strange term, but it is used that way by many fake antivirus warnings online. You might run into pop-ups online that claim that “Your system is heavily damaged by Four virus!”. These alerts are fake. They’re basically ads that are trying to scare you into downloading and installing an app. “Four … Continued

Emails with subjects like “Do you want to extend your free trial?” and “Your free period is about to end!” are being used to spread trojans and other malware. These malicious emails claim that your free trial is about to expire and that you must call a phone number if you want to cancel your … Continued

Frees.best might look just like an official, legitimate survey about your experience with Google with the additional reward of a phone of your choice – iPhone Xs Max or Samsung Galaxy S10. In reality, the survey is fake and the prizes are a scam meant to steal people’s private information and money. It’s not uncommon … Continued

Gamefabrique.com is a shady game pirating website. It promises free games, but it downloads adware bundles. This can result in unwanted programs being installed on your computer. And some of the games that Gamefabrique.com offers don’t get installed at all. Though not every download from Gamefabrique.com will result in malware being installed on your machine, … Continued

Games-install.com is a scam site that promises free games but ends up spreading subscription scams. Games-install.com is a fake game pirating site. It claims to have a huge video game library, all available for free – and all fake. Games-install.com fakes game installation in order to promote malicious content online. Games-install.com in short: Type of threat … Continued

Getquantity.club is a scam site. It asks you to fill out a survey, tells you that you won a phone, and then tries to get you to subscribe to Gamefoo.net. If you were unexpectedly charged some money by Gamefoo, or if you were promised a free phone and were wondering where it went, Getquantity.club might … Continued

Goodsphone.com is a dangerous website. First, it shows fake surveys and giveaways that promise a free phone or another prize. Then, it leads to a page that asks for personal and payment information which is then used to sign up the person for a subscription without their knowledge. In other words, Goodsphone.com is a scam. … Continued

Google Chrome Critical ERROR red screen is one of the newest technical support scams, claiming that hackers have attempted to get access to users’ personal logins and bank information. It is stated that Firewall has managed to block this suspicious connection. However, users are still encouraged to keep track of their banking accounts and other … Continued

“Google Security Warning” described in this article is actually a fake warning not related to Google at all. It is displayed by means of a hacked website to which the user is redirected unintentionally. Specific PUPs (potentially unwanted programs) take part in such redirections, whereas there are several malicious websites involved in distributing these fake … Continued

This tutorial is dedicated to helping you get rid of the “Hard Drive Safety Delete” online scam. The problem is specifically peculiar to Windows computers and its associated browsers – Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Edge and Internet Explorer. The scary alert may be noticed practically in every version of the Windows operating system. The … Continued

Helpme.net is a website used by criminals posing as Microsoft technical support specialists. Their victims are convinced (usually on the phone) to go to that website and download and install a program that would give scammers control of their computer through remote access. The scammers can then use that access for anything. They can install … Continued

Hndry[nr].live or Hndry simply sites are a collection of websites that start with “Hndry” followed by a number and “.live”. For example, Hndry10.live, Hndry60.live, and others. Hndry sites are used to sell unwanted junkware to desperate people with the help of the Bankworm hoax – a fake virus alert meant to alarm anyone who visits. Hndry virus alert … Continued