Avoid the "Your Mac is infected with 5 viruses!" scam
Written by Tomas Meskauskas on
(updated)
What is "Your Mac is infected with 5 viruses!"?
This deceptive website is designed to promote another scam ("Norton subscription has expired today") and trick visitors into believing that their Mac computers are infected with viruses. It claims that, to remove the viruses, visitors must renew their antivirus software subscriptions.
In fact, this web page promotes a potentially unwanted application (PUA), which has nothing to do with Norton AntiVirus or any other legitimate antivirus software.
This web page suggests that the visitor's Mac is infected with five viruses and the antivirus software requires an update. To remove all 'detected viruses', the visitor is urged to update the installed antivirus software by clicking the "Proceed" button, and then download a program (a PUA) from the opened website.
In most cases, scam websites of this type are designed by scammers who attempt to trick visitors into installing browser hijackers, adware-type applications, or other PUAs. Note that no software should be downloaded from or through unofficial, dubious websites.
Typically, users do not open these websites intentionally - they are opened when people click deceptive advertisements, visit other dubious web pages, or have PUAs installed on their browsers and/or operating systems.
Note that PUAs can be designed to gather information relating to users' browsing habits such as IP addresses, geolocations, entered search queries, addresses of visited pages, etc. They might also collect personal (sensitive) data. The developers often sell the details to third parties (potentially, cyber criminals) or misuse it to generate revenue in other ways.
PUAs can also serve various advertisements. For example, pop-ups ads, coupons, banners, surveys. When clicked, these open untrusted, potentially malicious pages or even execute scripts designed to download and install unwanted applications.
| Name | Your Mac is infected with 5 viruses! pop-up |
| Threat Type | Phishing, Scam, Mac malware, Mac virus. |
| Fake Claim | This page claims that the visitor's Mac is infected and the installed antivirus software requires an update. |
| Related Domain | antivirus-alert[.]info, online-virus-scan[.]best |
| Detection Names | ESET (Phishing), Full List (VirusTotal) |
| Serving IP Address | 198.54.117.197 |
| Symptoms | Your Mac becomes slower than normal, you see unwanted pop-up ads, you are redirected to dubious websites. |
| Distribution methods | Deceptive pop-up ads, free software installers (bundling), fake Flash Player installers, torrent file downloads. |
| Damage | Internet browser tracking (potential privacy issues), display of unwanted ads, redirects to dubious websites, loss of private information. |
| Malware Removal (Mac) | To eliminate possible malware infections, scan your Mac with legitimate antivirus software. Our security researchers recommend using Combo Cleaner. |
Some more examples of scam websites designed to deceive visitors into installing PUAs are "Warning: Your MacOS Has Expired", "ZEUS VIRUS DETECTED !!!" and "VPN Update". Whether a website of this kind is opened intentionally or not, it should never be trusted or used as a download source for files or applications.
If a browser opens a scam websites due to installed PUAs, remove the rogue apps immediately.
How did potentially unwanted applications install on my computer?
Generally, users download and install PUAs during the download/installation processes of other software. I.e., when the apps are included into the set-ups. In most cases, offers to download and/or install PUAs are mentioned in "Custom" and "Advanced" settings.
Many users fail to check and change these settings, thereby allowing PUAs to be downloaded and installed with other, regular software. This distribution method is known as "bundling". Additionally, unwanted downloads and installations can be caused by clicking deceptive advertisements that run certain scripts.
How to avoid installation of potentially unwanted applications
You are advised to download files and software only from official websites and via direct download links.
Other tools and sources such as third party downloaders/installers, unofficial pages, Peer-to-Peer networks (e.g., eMule, torrent clients) should not be used, as they can infiltrate unwanted software. Check "Custom", "Advanced" and other similar settings, and decline offers to download or install additionally-included unwanted apps.
Do not click ads that are displayed on dubious websites, since they can open other, potentially malicious websites or even cause unwanted downloads and installations by executing certain scripts. Remove any suspicious extensions, plug-ins and add-ons installed on the browser, and programs of this kind installed on the computer.
If your computer is already infected with PUAs, we recommend running a scan with Combo Cleaner Antivirus for macOS to automatically eliminate them.
Appearance of "Your Mac is infected with 5 viruses!" scam (GIF):
Text in this scam website:
Pop-up (front):
Mac OS Alert
Your Mac might be infected. We will now do a quick 10 second PC scan. Please click Ok to continue.
OK
Pop-up (back):
Your Mac is infected with 5 viruses!
ACTION REQUIRED!
Your antivirus software requires an update.
To remove all detected viruses, you must update your antivirus software.
Click "Proceed" then on the next page click "Download" to download and install the latest version of the software.
Proceed...
Instant automatic Mac malware removal:
Manual threat removal might be a lengthy and complicated process that requires advanced computer skills. Combo Cleaner is a professional automatic malware removal tool that is recommended to get rid of Mac malware. Download it by clicking the button below:
▼ DOWNLOAD Combo Cleaner for Mac
By downloading any software listed on this website you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use. To use full-featured product, you have to purchase a license for Combo Cleaner. Limited seven days free trial available. Combo Cleaner is owned and operated by Rcs Lt, the parent company of PCRisk.com read more.
Quick menu:
- What is "Your Mac is infected with 5 viruses!"?
- STEP 1. Remove PUA related files and folders from OSX.
- STEP 2. Remove rogue extensions from Safari.
- STEP 3. Remove rogue add-ons from Google Chrome.
- STEP 4. Remove potentially unwanted plug-ins from Mozilla Firefox.
Video showing how to remove adware and browser hijackers from a Mac computer:
Potentially unwanted applications removal:
Remove potentially unwanted applications from your "Applications" folder:
Click the Finder icon. In the Finder window, select "Applications". In the applications folder, look for "MPlayerX", "NicePlayer", or other suspicious applications and drag them to the Trash. After removing the potentially unwanted application(s) that cause online ads, scan your Mac for any remaining unwanted components.
Remove your mac is infected with 5 viruses! pop-up related files and folders:
Click the Finder icon, from the menu bar. Choose Go, and click Go to Folder...
Check for adware-generated files in the /Library/LaunchAgents folder:
In the Go to Folder... bar, type: /Library/LaunchAgents
In the “LaunchAgents” folder, look for any recently-added suspicious files and move them to the Trash. Examples of files generated by adware - “installmac.AppRemoval.plist”, “myppes.download.plist”, “mykotlerino.ltvbit.plist”, “kuklorest.update.plist”, etc. Adware commonly installs several files with the same string.
Check for adware generated files in the /Library/Application Support folder:
In the Go to Folder... bar, type: /Library/Application Support
In the “Application Support” folder, look for any recently-added suspicious folders. For example, “MplayerX” or “NicePlayer”, and move these folders to the Trash.
Check for adware-generated files in the ~/Library/LaunchAgents folder:
In the Go to Folder bar, type: ~/Library/LaunchAgents
In the “LaunchAgents” folder, look for any recently-added suspicious files and move them to the Trash. Examples of files generated by adware - “installmac.AppRemoval.plist”, “myppes.download.plist”, “mykotlerino.ltvbit.plist”, “kuklorest.update.plist”, etc. Adware commonly installs several files with the same string.
Check for adware-generated files in the /Library/LaunchDaemons folder:
In the Go to Folder... bar, type: /Library/LaunchDaemons
In the “LaunchDaemons” folder, look for recently-added suspicious files. For example “com.aoudad.net-preferences.plist”, “com.myppes.net-preferences.plist”, "com.kuklorest.net-preferences.plist”, “com.avickUpd.plist”, etc., and move them to the Trash.
Scan your Mac with Combo Cleaner:
If you have followed all the steps in the correct order you Mac should be clean of infections. To be sure your system is not infected run a scan with Combo Cleaner Antivirus. Download it HERE. After downloading the file double click combocleaner.dmg installer, in the opened window drag and drop Combo Cleaner icon on top of the Applications icon. Now open your launchpad and click on the Combo Cleaner icon. Wait until Combo Cleaner updates it's virus definition database and click "Start Combo Scan" button.
Combo Cleaner will scan your Mac for malware infections. If the antivirus scan displays "no threats found" - this means that you can continue with the removal guide, otherwise it's recommended to remove any found infections before continuing.
After removing files and folders generated by the adware, continue to remove rogue extensions from your Internet browsers.
Your Mac is infected with 5 viruses! pop-up removal from Internet browsers:
Remove malicious extensions from Safari:
Remove your mac is infected with 5 viruses! pop-up related Safari extensions:
Open Safari browser, from the menu bar, select "Safari" and click "Preferences...".
In the preferences window, select "Extensions" and look for any recently-installed suspicious extensions. When located, click the "Uninstall" button next to it/them. Note that you can safely uninstall all extensions from your Safari browser - none are crucial for normal browser operation.
- If you continue to have problems with browser redirects and unwanted advertisements - Reset Safari.
Remove malicious plug-ins from Mozilla Firefox:
Remove your mac is infected with 5 viruses! pop-up related Mozilla Firefox add-ons:
Open your Mozilla Firefox browser. At the top right corner of the screen, click the "Open Menu" (three horizontal lines) button. From the opened menu, choose "Add-ons".
Choose the "Extensions" tab and look for any recently-installed suspicious add-ons. When located, click the "Remove" button next to it/them. Note that you can safely uninstall all extensions from your Mozilla Firefox browser - none are crucial for normal browser operation.
- If you continue to have problems with browser redirects and unwanted advertisements - Reset Mozilla Firefox.
Remove malicious extensions from Google Chrome:
Remove your mac is infected with 5 viruses! pop-up related Google Chrome add-ons:
Open Google Chrome and click the "Chrome menu" (three horizontal lines) button located in the top-right corner of the browser window. From the drop-down menu, choose "More Tools" and select "Extensions".
In the "Extensions" window, look for any recently-installed suspicious add-ons. When located, click the "Trash" button next to it/them. Note that you can safely uninstall all extensions from your Google Chrome browser - none are crucial for normal browser operation.
- If you continue to have problems with browser redirects and unwanted advertisements - Reset Google Chrome.
Outstanding!
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