Firefox "Hijacked" my computer
We have been having trouble with Firefox crashing and we have been sending crash reports. This afternoon firefox "hijacked" our computer with the message that said something like: "A serious malfunction has been detected with OS X 10.6 and your firefox 45.0. Please call the toll free number below for a apple-macintosh technician to help you resolve the issue." The number given is ***
The message continued "For your safety closing the firefox browser has been disabled" There are warnings about shutting off the computer and about it tells us to contact microsoft:
"Do not shut down or restart the computer. Doing that may lead to data loss and possible failure of the operating system and potential non-bootable situation resulting in complete loss. Contact microsoft certified technicians to resolve the issue." Then it repeats the phone number.
I'm afraid this is a scam, a phising scheme of some kind. Will you kindly help us understand what is going on?
Thank you.
Brad
edit: removed malicious phone number. (philipp)
Modified by philipp
All Replies (6)
This is a scam. you have malware infecting your computer, likely because of some website you visited that wasn't safe.
Read Troubleshoot Firefox issues caused by malware, and if you need further assistance contact a reputable local computer shop for assistance.
Sounds that you have picked up some malware.
If you get a pop-up message asking to update Firefox or plugins or scanning for malware then such a message is likely a scam and you should never respond to such an alert to avoid getting infected with malware.
- Only update Firefox via "Help > About" or by downloading and installing Firefox from the Mozilla server and never via a pop-up or link on a web page.
- Plugins should only be updated via the plugin itself or by visiting the home page of the plugin.
Clear the Cache and remove the Cookies from websites that cause problems via the "3-bar" Firefox menu button (Options/Preferences).
"Clear the Cache":
- Firefox/Tools > Options > Advanced > Network > Cached Web Content: "Clear Now"
"Remove the Cookies" from websites that cause problems.
- Firefox/Tools > Options > Privacy > "Use custom settings for history" > Cookies: "Show Cookies"
Do a malware check with several malware scanning programs on the Windows computer.
Please scan with all programs because each program detects different malware. All these programs have free versions.
Make sure that you update each program to get the latest version of their databases before doing a scan.
- Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware:
http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php - AdwCleaner:
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/adwcleaner/
http://www.softpedia.com/get/Antivirus/Removal-Tools/AdwCleaner.shtml - SuperAntispyware:
http://www.superantispyware.com/ - Microsoft Safety Scanner:
http://www.microsoft.com/security/scanner/en-us/default.aspx - Windows Defender:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/using-defender - Spybot Search & Destroy:
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html - Kasperky Free Security Scan:
http://www.kaspersky.com/security-scan
You can also do a check for a rootkit infection with TDSSKiller.
- Anti-rootkit utility TDSSKiller:
http://support.kaspersky.com/5350?el=88446
See also:
- "Spyware on Windows": http://kb.mozillazine.org/Popups_not_blocked
rcvd msg Mozilla (@e.mozilla.org) subj ready to update? Believe it is a scam. Want a copy?
If the email is from mozilla.org then this might be legitimate.
Did you ever subscribe to emails from Mozilla news? Do you receive more email from this email address?
If this are emails from Mozilla then there will be a link to the Mozilla website to unscribe.
pedsto said
rcvd msg Mozilla (@e.mozilla.org) subj ready to update? Believe it is a scam. Want a copy?
@e.mozilla.org is for the about:mozilla newsletters you signed up for at some point and is a legit email domain. https://blog.mozilla.org/about_mozilla/
Modified by James