Remove apps that promote the "Your iPhone is highly damaged by 5 viruses!" scam

What is Your iPhone is highly damaged by 5 viruses!?

Generally, websites such as this one display a fake virus notification, stating that an iPhone (or other device) is infected with viruses, and encourage visitors to remove them immediately with a potentially unwanted application (PUA). In summary, these pages promote PUAs in a deceptive ways.

Typically, users do not visit these websites intentionally - they are opened through other untrusted web pages, dubious advertisements, or PUAs that are already installed on devices.

This site attempts to deceive visitors into believing that their iPhones are infected with five viruses. Unless visitors remove them, the viruses will negatively affect sensitive data and personal accounts. It urges people to remove detected viruses with a specific app, which can be downloaded from a website.

This site can be opened by tapping the "Remove Virus" button. Apps should never be downloaded from or through deceptive websites such as this one. The safest way is to use official, legitimate sites. Note that this website may seem similar to the official Apple website, however, Apple has nothing to do with this or other, similar bogus web pages.

As mentioned, users do not often visit these deceptive pages intentionally - they are opened by PUAs that users have installed on browsers and/or operating systems inadvertently. Note that PUAs promote dubious websites, gather data, and serve advertisements.

Commonly, PUAs serve coupons, surveys, banners, pop-ups and other types of advertisements that, when clicked, open dubious websites or even cause download/installation of unwanted software by running certain scripts. PUAs also collect browsing data.

For example, IP addresses, geolocations, entered search queries, addresses of visited websites and other information relating to users' browsing habits. Some PUAs can read private, sensitive details as well. Therefore, remove all PUAs from browsers and computers immediately.

Threat Summary:

Name	Your iPhone is highly damaged by 5 viruses! pop-up
Threat Type	Phishing, Scam, Mac malware, Mac virus.
Fake Claim	iPhone is infected with five viruses.
Related Domains	ios-protection[.]com, alets-system[.]com, umobile-security[.]com, mobile-detection[.]com, securitymobileyou[.]site, yourmobsecurity[.]com, topdefence-formob[.]com, oc-protection[.]com, browsernotification[.]com, yourmobsecurity[.]com, mobile-sys-tem[.]com, system-allert24[.]com
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.

Some examples of other web pages that are designed to trick visitors into downloading and installing rogue software are mobile-detection[.]com, 24-support-global[.]expert and privex-protection[.]com. Many seem like official sites and claim that devices contain malware. In any case, these websites should never be trusted.

How did potentially unwanted applications install on my computer?

Unwanted downloads and installations often occur when developers distribute PUAs by integrating them into the download/installation setups of other programs as "extra offers". This distribution method is known as "bundling". The offers can be declined in "Custom", "Advanced" and other similar settings of the setups (or by unticking certain checkboxes).

Many users fail to check and change these settings (or untick the checkboxes), thereby allowing PUAs to infiltrate together with the desired software. PUAs are also downloaded and installed by clicking deceptive advertisements (usually on untrusted sites) that execute certain scripts.

How to avoid installation of potentially unwanted applications

You are advised to download files and programs from official websites and via direct download links. Other tools and sources such as third party downloaders and installers, unofficial pages, and Peer-to-Peer networks (e.g., eMule, torrent clients) should not be used to download or install software.

Check all "Custom", "Advanced" and other similar settings (or available checkboxes) for offers to download and/or install unwanted apps. Do not click ads on dubious websites, since they can be designed to open bogus web pages or cause unwanted downloads and installations.

Remove any unwanted, suspicious extensions, plug-ins and add-ons installed on the browser, and software of this kind from 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:

Your iPhone Has Been Compromised
Immediate Action
Is Required!
Confirm

Screenshot of the background page:

Text in this page:

Apple
Security
3:17
Warning!
Your iPhone is highly damaged by 5 viruses!

We have detected that your browser is damaged by browser trojan viruses picked up while attending recent corrupted sites.

Immediate action is required to prevent it from spreading and infecting sensitive data like your Facebook account, Whatsapp messages, photos and private applications.

Follow the instruction

Step 1
Tap remove virus to install trusted Security App from the App Store.

Step 2
Open the app and follow the instructions to protect your device.

Remove Virus
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 IT 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 iPhone is highly damaged by 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 adware-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 exact 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 exact 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 correctly, your Mac should be clean of infections. To ensure 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 the 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 its virus definition database and click the "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.

Remove malicious extensions from Internet browsers

Remove malicious Safari extensions:

Open the 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 regular browser operation.

• If you continue to have problems with browser redirects and unwanted advertisements - Reset Safari.

Remove malicious extensions from Google Chrome:

Click the Chrome menu icon (at the top right corner of Google Chrome), select "More Tools" and click "Extensions". Locate all recently-installed suspicious extensions, select these entries and click "Remove".

• If you continue to have problems with browser redirects and unwanted advertisements - Reset Google Chrome.

Remove malicious extensions from Mozilla Firefox:

Click the Firefox menu (at the top right corner of the main window) and select "Add-ons and themes". Click "Extensions", in the opened window locate all recently-installed suspicious extensions, click on the three dots and then click "Remove".

• If you continue to have problems with browser redirects and unwanted advertisements - Reset Mozilla Firefox.

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