Is this a "redirect" or a "hijack" or just what?

9 years ago

While searching the real estate site Zillow for a home that our grandson is interested in buying, I had a rather scary experience. I clicked on the picture of a property that I wanted to see and several plain black and white pop-ups appeared. The top one claimed that https:/microsoftsupport.com had found that I was infested with a virus and spyware and was therefore blocked from further use. It had a toll-free phone number in white numerals on a blue background on either side of this notice. The notice also contained an "error" number and information that all my information could be stolen if I did not act within 5 minutes. Well, I was not about to call that number, so I went to my laptop computer and opened the website for MS support. The URL is legitimate, but the MS website had been altered to contain the information I gave. The real website is for support of only MS products and makes no mention of virus or spyware. The instructions also said to hit Esc to leave the site. Now the Zillow site was still on with this on top of it. I could not X out of anything, but since almost 10 minutes had elapsed, I did use Esc and the pop-up disappeared. Next time I clicked on the picture of the property, it went right to it. So I'm not sure what this type of re-direct or hijack is actually called. I'm just glad I stayed calm. But I can imagine that some people, not being able to click out of these, would have resorted to calling the phone number given. Glad I have the second computer to sort of check out these things. But imagine their using a https (secure) site in this way. Not sure how to report this, or if it's even worth trying to do.

Featured Answer

zep516

9 years ago

It's not a ransomeware virus, if it were the users files would be encrypted and they would be unable to open them until a ransom fee was paid.

At best it's a

Tech Support Scam pop-up virus

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Comments (11)

zep516
9 years ago
Not sure what that is called either, usually it's something like this

The Call Toll Free Support pop-ups are caused by an ad-supported
extension for Internet Explorer, Firefox and Chrome,
The malicious browser extensions is typically added when you install
another free software (video recording/streaming, download-managers or
PDF creators) that had bundled into their installation this adware
program.
aputernut
9 years ago
Actually it's a ransomware virus, run Malwarebytes ASAP
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dadoes
9 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
My aunt and sister recently had this happen, on different computers at different times via different web sites being viewed.

Aunt said she was "on Google" and couldn't "get out of it" so she closed the laptop and called me ... but she's not very technical so no way to know what she was actually viewing. I ran Avast and Malwarebytes scans, her laptop was clean. No way she could understand how to open Task Manager and kill the browser if necessary so I told her if anything like that happens again that she "can't get out of" she should press and hold the power button until the laptop shuts off.

Sister ran her own scans and I didn't hear anything further so presumably it also came up clean.
WalnutCreek Zone 7b/8a
9 years ago
I hate it when those type things pop up. I do what dadoes and aputernut say. Go to Task Manager and close the offender down, then run Malwarebytes quickly.
azinoh
9 years ago
I have never experienced what the OP described. Am I just lucky? Or is Firefox + NoScript + AdBlock Plus responsible?
grandms
Original Author
9 years ago
I was using Chrome browser with Ad Block Plus extension. After I pressed Esc, only the Zillow site was on my screen. I ran Malwarebytes and AVAST scan and nothing showed up. I have since removed free AVAST and put on Charter/Spectrum protection, which is F-Secure suite and available through my internet provider.
aputernut
9 years ago
It may not be what some of you think of as ransomware but if it keeps coming up on your browser, unless you know how to get rid of it? and if you call the suggested phone number and (it's going to cost you $$$) then in my book it qualifies as ransomware.
azinoh
9 years ago
It isn't "ransomware" unless it has already encrypted your files and is holding them hostage until you pay to decrypt them. Your personal interpretation of the term serves only to confuse the issue. There is enough techno-babble here as it is.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ransomware
User
9 years ago
I hate it when those type things pop up. I do what dadoes and aputernut say. Go to Task Manager and close the offender down, then run Malwarebytes quickly.

Close the box with the X, then hit control + alt + delete. all at same time. This brings up new pop up window with 4 options, choose Task Manager.

When Task Manager opens, close the browser listed that the redirect opened on.

IMPORTANT: when reopening browser DO NOT restore pages..X out of that.

Ransomware takes control of your pc and files.

I knew this wasn't RW when I could open and close, reopen my Opera and MS Edge browsers without problems.

This happened in my Chrome browser
grandms
Original Author
9 years ago
IMHO this was not "ransomware" since nothing was being held hostage. That would make it ransomeware. Once I closed the browser and cleared browsing history, I have had no further problems. I think the key to any of this stuff is remaining calm and not pushing the panic button. I knew that MS Support would not be advising me of malware, so a little bit of knowledge does help.

Is this a "redirect" or a "hijack" or just what?

zep516

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Is this a "redirect" or a "hijack" or just what?

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