Online Threat Alerts (OTA) - Alerting you to scams and frauds.

Fake and Malicious Pop-up Message Notifications
Fake and Malicious Pop-up Message Notifications

If pop-up messages appear on your screen while you are browsing the internet or using an app, claiming that you have been fined a specified amount of money, accused of looking at materials that's against the law, that your computer or device has vulnerabilities, or your computer/device is infected with a virus or some other malware, you should disregard them because they are scams created by cyber-criminals.

The fake messages are placed in online advertisements and on fake or malicious websites.

The Purpose of the Fake and Malicious Notifications

The fake and malicious messages were created to frighten the cyber-criminals’ potential victims into:

  • stealing their money by asking them to make a payment in order to avoid arrest,
  • stealing their credit card and other financial information by asking them to enter it on a fraudulent website,
  • sending their personal information, which they will use to steal their identities
  • entering their credential (username and password) on a phishing website, which the cyber-criminals will steal and use to hijack their accounts
  • tricking them into visiting malicious websites, downloading and installing malicious software, which will infect their computers/devices with a virus, Trojan horse or some other malware

Remember, the only thing that can detect a virus or malware on your computer or device is the antivirus, anti-malware or anti-spyware software or application installed on it. So, anything else that say otherwise, should not be trusted.

Also, the police or your local authorities will not contact you using pop-up message notifications.

This scam is similar to the following:

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