That fake antivirus popup cost me 4 hours of my life

Last Wednesday I was working on a spreadsheet for inventory when a full screen alert popped up saying my computer was infected. It looked exactly like a Windows security warning, complete with a phone number to call. I panicked for a good 10 minutes before I realized the browser was just showing a full screen ad. By the time I figured out how to force close it and run a real scan, I had wasted almost half my work day. Has anyone else had these fake alerts trick them for longer than they'd like to admit?

2 comments

2 Comments

dixon.spencer16d ago

The thing with those fake alerts is that they're not just using the same blue and font, they're actually using genuine Windows features to make it happen. That's not the scammers getting better at picking fonts, that's them abusing legitimate browser APIs to trap people. I had to explain to my dad last week that his browser wasn't hacked, he had just clicked "allow notifications" by accident on a sketchy site. Microsoft actually has a page on their support site showing what real Windows warnings look like versus the fakes. Yours was just a full screen ad running in a browser tab, which is different from an actual system popup. That four hour panic is exactly why I tell everyone to learn the Ctrl+Alt+Delete dance before anything else.

holly_walker7616d ago

Oh man, a full 4 hours?! That's rough. I can totally see how it happens though, those popups are getting scarily good. I mean, I almost fell for one last month that had the exact same shade of blue and font as the real Windows alert. It was late at night and I was tired, and I actually started to dial the number before I caught myself. Take it with a grain of salt, but I think these scammers are getting better at timing these things for when people are distracted or stressed.