Your Apple ID Has Been Disabled! POP-UP Scam

What is "Your apple id has been disabled!"?

"Your apple id has been disabled!" is the name of a tech-support scam used to steal users' Apple ID accounts. Scammers promote this scam through a deceptive, unofficial website disguised as a legitimate Apple web page.

Typically, visitors do not open this site intentionally - they are forced to visit it by potentially unwanted applications (PUA) installed on their systems. These apps often feed users with intrusive ads and collect browsing-related details.

As mentioned, scammers who designed the "Your apple id has been disabled!" scam use it to steal Apple ID accounts. The deceptive website states that the visitor's iPhone is blocked, since it detected some 'illegal activity'. It also states that the user's Apple ID is disabled. To unblock it, people are urged to contact "Apple Support" (scammers) via the "+1(844)-357-0777" number.

If contacted, they will ask for Apple ID account's details such as the user's email address and password. Stolen accounts can be used to purchase music, applications, and access the iCloud email. In this way, scammers might cause financial loss and privacy issues for the victims.

For these reasons, do not trust unofficial websites, and more importantly, do not provide scammers with any personal details. If a browser opened this or another, similar scam, ignore it and close the site. If for some reason it cannot be closed in the normal way, terminate the entire browser process using Activity Monitor.

Note that the closed browsing session should not be restored the next time the browser is opened, since this will reopen the scam website.

Installed PUAs usually open dubious websites - pages associated with various scams. They often collect user-system information including, for example, URLs of websites that they visit, IP addresses, geolocations, entered search queries, and so on. Some PUAs might also record personal details.

Developers of these apps share the data with third parties who misuse it to generate revenue. If an app of this type is installed, it might display intrusive advertisements such as coupons, pop-up ads, banners, surveys, and other unwanted ads.

When clicked, these apps download/install potentially malicious apps or simply open other untrustworthy websites, including pages that promote tech-support scams.

Threat Summary:

Name	"Your apple id has been disabled!" virus
Threat Type	Mac malware, Mac virus.
Fake Claim	Criminals pretend to be certified technicians from Apple and claim that the user's device has been blocked. They also encourage users to immediately contact them via the telephone number provided.
Tech Support Scammer Phone Number	+1(844)-357-0777
Related Domain(s)	iosm.s3-website.ca-central-1.amazonaws[.]com
Serving IP Address (iosm.s3-website.ca-central-1.amazonaws[.]com)	52.95.147.3
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 seven days free trial available. Combo Cleaner is owned and operated by Rcs Lt, the parent company of PCRisk.com read more.

There are many tech-support (and other) scam websites. Some examples are apple.com-mac-booster[.]live, apple.com-fast[.]live, and macos-online-security-check[.]com. 

Typically, they are used to trick people into contacting scammers who try to obtain personal details or encourage users to pay for software or services, or simply trick them into downloading unwanted software. These scam websites use deceptive methods, display fake virus/error alerts, inform visitors about blocked accounts/computers, and so on.

None of these websites or PUAs should be trusted. PUAs are presented as legitimate, however, they often lead to unwanted downloads and redirects and cause problems relating to browsing safety, privacy, etc.

How did potentially unwanted applications install on my computer?

Most are installed with free software or through clicked intrusive advertisements. In the first case, they are installed when people take the quickest route to download or install programs - these might contain unwanted apps bundled into the setup. Bundling is a deceptive marketing method that developers use to trick people into downloading/installing PUAs.

They hide information regarding the inclusion (bundling) of PUAs in "Custom", "Advanced" and other similar settings of software set-ups.

People cause unwanted downloads and installations when they leave these settings unchanged. They also cause this problem by clicking intrusive ads - once clicked, some can run scripts designed to start the download/installation processes of unwanted apps.

How to avoid installation of potentially unwanted applications?

Download and install software with care. Study each checkbox and the "Custom" or "Advanced" settings any download/installation setup. Deselect offers to download or install unwanted apps. Avoid downloading apps using third party downloaders, Peer-to-Peer networks, unofficial websites, and so on. The best way to download is using official websites.

Note that intrusive ads (especially when displayed on dubious websites) redirect users to untrustworthy or even malicious websites. If redirects to dubious websites happen regularly or intrusive ads appear on each opened page, check for suspicious/unwanted extensions, plug-ins, and add-ons on the web browser, and programs installed on the operating system.

Remove/uninstall unwanted entries immediately. If your computer is already infected with PUAs, we recommend running a scan with Combo Cleaner Antivirus for macOS to automatically eliminate them.

Text presented in the "Your apple id has been disabled!" tech-support scam:

Contact Support
Your iPhone has been locked due to detected illegal activity. Your apple id has been disabled! Immediately call Apple Support +1(844)-357-0777 to unlock it!

Appearance of "Your apple id has been disabled!" scam (GIF):

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▼ 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 apple id has been disabled!" virus?
• How to identify a pop-up scam?
• How do pop-up scams work?
• How to remove fake pop-ups?
• How to prevent fake pop-ups?
• What to do if you fell for a pop-up scam?

How to identify a pop-up scam?

Pop-up windows with various fake messages are a common type of lures cybercriminals use. They collect sensitive personal data, trick Internet users into calling fake tech support numbers, subscribe to useless online services, invest in shady cryptocurrency schemes, etc.

While in the majority of cases these pop-ups don't infect users' devices with malware, they can cause direct monetary loss or could result in identity theft.

Cybercriminals strive to create their rogue pop-up windows to look trustworthy, however, scams typically have the following characteristics:

• Spelling mistakes and non-professional images - Closely inspect the information displayed in a pop-up. Spelling mistakes and unprofessional images could be a sign of a scam.
• Sense of urgency - Countdown timer with a couple of minutes on it, asking you to enter your personal information or subscribe to some online service.
• Statements that you won something - If you haven't participated in a lottery, online competition, etc., and you see a pop-up window stating that you won.
• Computer or mobile device scan - A pop-up window that scans your device and informs of detected issues - is undoubtedly a scam; webpages cannot perform such actions.
• Exclusivity - Pop-up windows stating that only you are given secret access to a financial scheme that can quickly make you rich.

Example of a pop-up scam:

How do pop-up scams work?

Cybercriminals and deceptive marketers usually use various advertising networks, search engine poisoning techniques, and shady websites to generate traffic to their pop-ups. Users land on their online lures after clicking on fake download buttons, using a torrent website, or simply clicking on an Internet search engine result.

Based on users' location and device information, they are presented with a scam pop-up. Lures presented in such pop-ups range from get-rich-quick schemes to fake virus scans.

How to remove fake pop-ups?

In most cases, pop-up scams do not infect users' devices with malware. If you encountered a scam pop-up, simply closing it should be enough. In some cases scam, pop-ups may be hard to close; in such cases - close your Internet browser and restart it.

In extremely rare cases, you might need to reset your Internet browser. For this, use our instructions explaining how to reset Internet browser settings.

How to prevent fake pop-ups?

To prevent seeing pop-up scams, you should visit only reputable websites. Torrent, Crack, free online movie streaming, YouTube video download, and other websites of similar reputation commonly redirect Internet users to pop-up scams.

To minimize the risk of encountering pop-up scams, you should keep your Internet browsers up-to-date and use reputable anti-malware application. For this purpose, we recommend Combo Cleaner Antivirus for macOS.

What to do if you fell for a pop-up scam?

This depends on the type of scam that you fell for. Most commonly, pop-up scams try to trick users into sending money, giving away personal information, or giving access to one's device.

• If you sent money to scammers: You should contact your financial institution and explain that you were scammed. If informed promptly, there's a chance to get your money back.
• If you gave away your personal information: You should change your passwords and enable two-factor authentication in all online services that you use. Visit Federal Trade Commission to report identity theft and get personalized recovery steps.
• If you let scammers connect to your device: You should scan your computer with reputable anti-malware (we recommend Combo Cleaner Antivirus for macOS) - cyber criminals could have planted trojans, keyloggers, and other malware, don't use your computer until removing possible threats.
• Help other Internet users: report Internet scams to Federal Trade Commission.

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