How to remove apps responsible for promoting the "Receive iPhone 12" scam

What is the Receive iPhone 12 scam?

This is one of many scams that ask visitors to participate in a survey to win a tech prize. This particular scam offers a chance to win an iPhone 12 Pro.

In most cases, scammers behind these rogue pages attempt to trick unsuspecting visitors into providing sensitive information or subscribing to paid services. In all cases, these scams should be ignored.

Note that users do not often visit these or similar scam pages intentionally - they are opened through deceptive advertisements, other untrustworthy sites, or by potentially unwanted applications (PUAs) that users have accidentally installed onto their browsers or operating systems.

This scam page displays a deceptive message stating that visitors (more precisely, ten random visitors) have been chosen to participate in a survey and, in return for completing it, visitors can win an iPhone 12 Pro.

It also claims that its survey is created for statistical purposes, to improve the quality of some services. This page has a running timer to trick visitors into believing that they only have a limited amount of time to have a chance to win the new iPhone 12 Pro.

At first, this page asks users to answer some demographic questions such as age, gender, whether visitors have ever purchased an iPhone 12 Pro. It then displays a pop-up window with twelve gift boxes and states that visitors have three attempts to choose the correct gift box to win the prize.

As mentioned, scam websites like this are used to trick visitors into providing sensitive information or subscribing to paid services. Therefore, there are supposedly no losers in their lotteries, and everybody gets a chance to "win" a prize.

This scam page is likely to be used to trick visitors into providing details such as email addresses, names, surnames, physical addresses, credit card details, bank account numbers, social security numbers, and other sensitive or personally identifiable information.

Scammers attempt to extract information that could be used to steal identities, make unauthorized purchases and transactions, or is monetized in other ways.

Some scams attempt to trick visitors into paying for a transaction, registration, administration, or other "fee' to receive their prize, or to subscribe to paid services.

Ignore these scams and do not provide any information.

Threat Summary:

Name	Receive iPhone 12 pop-up
Threat Type	Phishing, Scam, Mac malware, Mac virus
Fake Claim	Visitors have a chance to win an iPhone 12 Pro
Related Domain	taicheetee[.]com
Serving IP Address	139.45.197.149
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.

More examples of similar scams are "Congratulations! Netflix User!", "Winners Of the New iPhone 11 Pro", and "Randomly Selected To Test The New iPhone". None of these websites are legitimate or can deliver real prize wins.

As mentioned, these websites are often promoted through potentially unwanted applications (PUAs). Typically, users download and install PUAs inadvertently. They are then used to promote bogus websites, gather browsing data (or even confidential information), and generate advertisements. Apps of this type should never be installed on browsers or computers.

How did potentially unwanted applications install on my computer?

PUAs are often downloaded/installed together with other products. This deceptive marketing technique of pre-packing regular software with unwanted or malicious additions is called "bundling".

By rushing through download/installation of software (e.g. ignoring terms, skipping steps and sections, using "Quick/Express" settings, etc.) many users risk unintentionally allowing bundled content into their devices. Intrusive advertisements proliferate PUAs as well. When clicked, the ads can execute scripts to download/install these applications without users' permission.

Some PUAs have "official" download web pages from which they can be downloaded.

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.

Appearance of Receive iPhone 12 scam (GIF):

Text in the website background:

Congratulations!

Today March 9, 2021 You have been selected at random to participate in this survey. It will only take a minute and you can receive a prize: An iPhone 12 Pro!

Like every week we choose 10 random users to give them the chance to win fabulous prizes. Today's prize is an iPhone 12 Pro! Only 10 lucky ones will be the winners and only if you live in kaunas!

This survey is only done for statistical purposes to improve the service of users.

You only have 02 Minute and 55 Seconds, to be able to participate.

Hurry, the number of prizes is limited!

Text in the first pop-up:

Congratulations, your answers have been validated correctly!

Today you have the opportunity to take an iPhone 12 Pro!

All you have to do is choose the correct gift box.

You have 3 attempts, good luck!

Text in the second pop-up:

OHHH...

Sorry, this gift is empty! You still have (2) attempts. Good luck!

Text in the third pop-up:

YOU'VE GOT IT!

You have got an iPhone 12 Pro!

Follow the instructions below and you will be one step closer to your gift!

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 Receive iPhone 12 pop-up?
• 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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