Remove apps that promote (3) Viruses have been detected on your iPhone

How to remove apps that open "(3) Viruses have been detected on your iPhone" scam page?

What is "(3) Viruses have been detected on your iPhone" scam?

There are many untrustworthy websites that promote potentially unwanted (or even malicious) applications using a deceptive method: they display fake notifications saying that a device is infected with viruses (or damaged in some other way) and it will be damaged further if no prompt action is taken. Such pages encourage visitors to download and install some app that supposed to remove non-existent viruses (or solve other "problems").

This page is disguised as the official Apple website, it says that iPhone has been infected with 3 viruses, and the battery has been infected and damaged as well. Moreover, it says that if a user will not remove detected viruses, then those viruses may cause even more damage to a device. Its main purpose is to deceive unsuspecting users into downloading and installing some application that supposed to remove viruses and protect a device in the future. No application should be downloaded from or through deceptive pages, they should be downloaded only from legitimate, official sources. If a website like this gets opened, it should be closed and never visited again. Although, if a browser keeps opening such pages regularly, then it is likely that some potentially unwanted application (PUA) is already installed on it (or the operating system).

There are two more reasons not to have any PUA installed on a device (and/or a browser): apps of this type can be designed to collect browsing data like IP addresses, entered search queries, addresses of visited pages and/or even personal, sensitive details. In such cases gathered information could be sold to third parties (potentially, cyber criminals) or monetized in some another way. Also, PUAs can be designed to generate various coupons, banners, surveys, pop-ups and/or ads of other types that, if clicked, would open untrustworthy, potentially malicious pages or cause unwanted downloads (or even installations).

Threat Summary:

Name	(3) Viruses have been detected on your iPhone pop-up
Threat Type	Phishing, Scam, Mac malware, Mac virus
Fake Claim	iPhone (and its battery) has been infected with 3 viruses
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. ▼ Download Combo Cleaner for Mac To use full-featured product, you have to purchase a license for Combo Cleaner. Limited three days free trial available.

Crypt-protection[.]com, peachtrackereu[.]com and bestpeacheu[.]com are examples of other pages that use the same deceptive method to trick users into installing some potentially unwanted application. Another thing that most of these pages have in common is that they mimic official Apple websites, however, none of them have anything to do with the actual (official) Apple pages. It is worthwhile to mention that such pages can be opened not only by some installed PUAs but also though visited untrustworthy pages or clicked deceptive ads.

How did potentially unwanted applications install on my computer?

In some cases users unintentionally download and/or install PUAs by clicking deceptive advertisements that are designed to execute certain script. Although, it is more common that users download and/or install PUAs together with other programs. Quite often PUAs are included in download and/or installation setups of other programs as additional offers (this distribution method is known as "bundling"). Users who finish downloads and/or installations without changing settings like "Advanced", "Custom" (or unticking certain checkboxes) download and/or install offered apps as well.

How to avoid installation of potentially unwanted applications?

Applications should be downloaded only from official web pages and via direct links. Third party downloaders (and installers), Peer-to-Peer networks like eMule, torrent clients, unofficial pages and other sources, tools of this kind are not trustworthy. Download and installation setups that have "Advanced", "Custom" and other settings should be checked for offers to download and/or install unwanted apps. Also, it is advised not to click advertisements that appear on dubious sites, those ads could open other untrustworthy pages or cause downloads or installations of unwanted apps. Additionally, there should not be any unwanted, suspicious plug-ins, extensions or add-ons installed on a browser or apps of this kind is installed on the operating system. If your computer is already infected with PUAs, we recommend running a scan with Combo Cleaner Antivirus for macOS to automatically eliminate them.

Text in the pop-up window:

(1) SYSTEM NOTIFICATION
Please Read Important Notification Regarding Your iOS Device.
OK

Screenshot of the background page:

Text in this page:

Apple Security Friday
13 November 2020
(3) Viruses have been detected on your iPhone and battery has been infected and damaged.

If you do not remove this malware now, it may cause more damage to your device. How to fix this:

Step 1: Tap the button below & install the recommended virus protection tool for free from the AppStore.

Step 2: Run the app to remove all malware to repair your phone to 100%
1 minutes and 25 seconds
Download and Install
Detected By Apple.

To enable pop-up blocking, fraudulent website warnings, and remove web browsing data in mobile Apple devices, follow these steps:

First, go to "Settings", and then scroll down to find and tap "Safari".

Check if the "Block Pop-ups" and "Fraudulent Website Warning" toggles are enabled. If not, enable them immediately. Then, scroll down and tap "Advanced".

Tap "Website Data" and then "Remove All Website Data".

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 three days free trial available.

Quick menu:

• What is "(3) Viruses have been detected on your iPhone"?
• 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 (3) viruses have been detected on your iphone 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.

(3) Viruses have been detected on your iPhone pop-up removal from Internet browsers:

Remove malicious extensions from Safari:

Remove (3) viruses have been detected on your iphone 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 (3) viruses have been detected on your iphone 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 (3) viruses have been detected on your iphone 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.

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