Phishing scam aimed at Mac computers in form of virus

[Beauty hunter]

Landed in a computer mine by clicking a pic of a domestic cat on a rock near some water after I had googled Mediterranean/Israel. As far as I know, (info provided by geek squad), this virus (not really a virus, but made to look like one) has been aimed at mac computer's for about 3 wks. Macs are not supposed to get virus's, so when this happened, I was freaking out.
If you have a mac, contact apple before this happens to get the scam buster info, unless you want to be at your computer for several hours like I was trying to remove the *astard.
Also, according to geek squad and apple, this is being worked on so software can be developed to guard against this. Supposedly, according to geek squad, this is the second known occurrence of virus type scams(really phishing scams) coming against mac computers. I didn't confirm this with apple cause at that point, I just wanted the thing out of my computer.

How it happened: 1. I clicked a pic 2. The screen immediately went into a security alert with approx. 30 virus's names flashing on my screen. 3. A directive from the computer highlighted a button to remove all. This was the trick. It was named mac security on my computer and apple said it's also called mac defender. When you press the button to remove all, it actually loads itself onto your computer. The lying deceitful *astards whoever they are. 4. The reason I didn't catch on was I had pop-up blockers. The entire false virus scam had a pop-up device that supposedly directs you to a site to give your credit card # to pay for a way to get the virus off your computer according to apple. 5. Also, according to geek squad, the most info these scammers might be able to get would be your name which he said is no big deal. 6. These little scamming tw*ts will be caught and when they are justice will be served.

 

[30ashopper]

"Macs are not supposed to get virus's" - the only reason they haven't been plagued with this problem in the past is due to their small install base which has now broadened quite a bit. FYI Mac's regularly get hacked at all the hacker conferences that offer money for exploits. You should definitely be running anti-virus software if you don't trust yourself to be careful enough.

 

[Beauty hunter]

Landed in another mine today, but didn't fall for it so it didn't get downloaded.
Another phishing scam in the form of a virus.
This one was named Apple security alert, I think- it started with Apple , anyway.
I called Apple and it was taken off rather quickly.
This time I had googled Jerusalem/bridal/blue and probably 2-3 pgs. in was a double pic of models on the runway wearing charcoal gray.
I clicked it and boom the fake virus loaded onto the page.
Whoever this dirtbag is seems to be targeting women & children.
I also discovered after reading the e-mail from apple that porn images come up at some point during this ruse.
That may be entertaining to some, but I have kids and it's not allowed, nor do I like it.
Anyway, so much for that.
If you run across anything, just report it to apple- that is, if you have a mac.
Maybe I am the only one that has a mac cause nobody has said anything.

 

[Rita]

.
I had this happen to me this week also, but didn't click on the "security alert" prompt. grrr.


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[Smiling JOe]

So are you suggesting that they are targeting Jews?

 

[SlowMovin]

This approach has been used against Windows machines for some time. I'm not sure why pop-up blockers don't always catch them, but anytime you get a message saying "Your computer is at risk" or infected or whatever that is not from whatever security software you use, do not click on it. In fact, don't even click on the Cancel or close button. Just go to Task Manager (or whatever the Mac equivalent is) and shut down the browser process(es).

 

[Smiling JOe]

Yep, the windows one is called something like "Windows Security Manager." My mom almost fell for it.

 

[30ashopper]

This approach has been used against Windows machines for some time. I'm not sure why pop-up blockers don't always catch them, but anytime you get a message saying "Your computer is at risk" or infected or whatever that is not from whatever security software you use, do not click on it. In fact, don't even click on the Cancel or close button. Just go to Task Manager (or whatever the Mac equivalent is) and shut down the browser process(es).

From my experience, IE9 and Firefox both handle these application downloads gracefully through prompts to the user. I've not had to kill the browser to avoid them.

 

[Beauty hunter]

I think after awhile when these websites are reported to authorities, it gives enough clues for these to crooks to be ferreted out. They are selfish, annoying, and evil so may they reap a bountiful harvest of what they have sewn. I'm with you on the grrr, Rita.

 

[Beauty hunter]

So are you suggesting that they are targeting Jews?

I don't have enough info to suggest this, but it is interesting that these phishing scams are coming up when I google Jerusalem and Israel. From the two pieces of info I have, they seem to be targeting women and children- the cat pic and the fashion pic. They'll be caught- just a matter of time...