I have an iphone 6. Earlier today I was searching up something and after I clicked on a link, I got the Usmarshals.gov/crime/apple pop-up locking up my Safari browser. The message claimed that I have been suspected of watching child porn WHICH I DO NOT, and I scrolled down and pressed “okay” a couple times, but it didn’t do anything. It asked me to pay a fine of $500 or else I would be arrested within 72hr and they are going to contact my phone contacts. I am really scared and I cannot exit out the page even I have restarted my iPhone for a million times. I searched on the web and found many people had the same problem and clearly it was a scam. But I don’t know what to do now. How do I get rid of it from my iPhone completely?
If you got a Usmarshals.gov/crime/apple message supposedly from U.S. Marshals saying that “You are accused of viewing/storage and/or dissemination of banned pornography (child pornography/zoophilia/rape etc.)” on your ipad or iPhone, and you are asked to pay $500 fine within 72 hours to avoid the violation, that indicates you are suffering with the new type of mobile virus, known as Ransomware. Basically speaking, iPads, iPhones and basically all Apple devices were thought to be immune to viruses and malware, but that changed around three years ago when hackers all over the world started targeting Apple devices. This malware can affect all apple devices like iphone 5, iphone 5s, iphone 6, iphone 6 plus, iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s plus, iPhone SE and even iPad mini/ipad/ipad air. Once installed, it freezes up your Internet browser, locks you out of Safari or Chrome and blocks you from going online. The virus hits innocent users with a fake warning accusing them of accessing child pornography and distributing illegal contents. It tells the victim: “your browser has been blocked…you have been viewing or distributing prohibited Pornographic content.. To unlock your device and to avoid other legal consequences, you are obligated to pay a release fee of $500.” A quick look at the address bar shows an interesting URL starting with Usmarshals.gov/crime/apple, it appears to be a legitimate warning but actually it is not. This is a scam designed by cyber criminals to fool people and scare them into paying for a non-existent fine so users are advised NOT to pay out any money or hand out any bank details, instead this virus should be manually deleted as early as possible.
“I was on safari for my iPhone and then I got a message that was locking me out of safari. On the address bar, it showed Usmarshals.gov/crime/apple and there was a 72 hours count down. It said my iOS has been blocked for viewing child pornography, and something like zoophilia stuff which I have never done before. The virus expected me to pay a $500 fine and it said if I don’t pay the fine in the next 3 days they are going to block my apple id and delete everything I have on my phone. Even worse, criminal cases will be automatically started against me and I could face the chances to be caught to jails. I was really freaking out. So I went to my local CVS about 15 minutes later and got a My Vanilla prepaid card and put $500 on it. I entered in the pin of the card but still nothing changed. The message pop-up was still on my screen. Am I scammed? What should I do to exit out the Usmarshals.gov pop-up?”
Screenshot of Similar Scam:
As mentioned above, the Usmarshals.gov/crime/apple Pop-up is a fraud. If your device has been hijacked and is being held for ransom, do not pay the ransom. There is no guarantee that the criminals will unlock your phone – in fact: they have every reason not to. Although no one wants to be trapped by illegal issues, paying the fine is not an option to get out of the annoying Usmarshals.gov pop-up. Some people are willing to pay the fine to avoid further problems, but it only gets things worse because they will surely experience money loss. The virus should be removed manually.
We used to think that Apple iOS gadgets were pretty immune to viruses and malware. Sadly, over the past year hackers have turned their attention to our mobile gear. Usually, the installation of Usmarshals.gov/crime/apple Virus can be completed in a short time and then it pops up immediately to lock your iphone or ipad without signs if you visit a phishing site, open a junk e-mail attachment, click on an unknown link or download an application from an unsafe source. You will be easily get infected by this virus after you jailbreak your device.
It will block your Internet access once it is downloaded.
It will pretend itself as a legitimate warning to lock you out of Safari or Chrome browser.
It will not let you exit the blocked page even you have restarted the device a million times.
It can block all types of antivirus apps.
1. This message can run on iPhone, iPad, iPod or other Apple devices.
2. Don’t pay for anything or provide your personal information to this hoax, it won’t help unlock Safari/Chrome, but just waste your money.
3. Currently antivirus apps are unable to detect or remove this malware.
4. There is no anti-malware software that can detect 100% of the malware out there.
Since viruses are quite inevitable, there are some tips you can avoid being fallen into U.S. Marshals Warning Scam in the future:
1. Be careful of downloading applications in the internet because many of them are just cloned applications. Visit legitimate app stores like Apple Store because it filters out the reliable application from what’s not reliable. Most viruses are from gaming and anti-virus applications which are forged. Before downloading an application, try to read some customer reviews so that you will be assured that it is truly a trusted app. Stick with apps from App Store and don’t jailbreak your device and install apps from third-parties.
2. Be cautious at opening attachments thru MMS, SMS messages and e-mails because you might open an unknown attachment from unknown sender. Never open any attachments which are suspicious to you.
3. Don’t open your Bluetooth connection when not in need. It would be easy for the virus to go inside the phone’s application and destroy the phone’s performance.
4. Read the permissions. Every app you install has to declare its permissions, meaning the app lists what it will have access to on your phone. Don’t just click OK without reading what the app will do.
Usmarshals.gov/crime/apple Pop-up Warning uses javascript to block user’s Internet access and prevent them from going online properly. It uses scare tactic to deceive people into paying the ransom without unblocking their device. Obviously it is a hoax. The virus rapidly spreads over the Internet and has infected thousands of devices at an alarming rate. There is no anti-malware apps that can delete the virus automatically. Worse still it won’t go away unless you have removed all its components step by step. Even in some cases it may disappear itself for a while to let you get Internet access back, but your device is still unsafe. It is still a threat for your privacy. To completely get this off iPhone or iPad, you can contact YooCare PC experts 24/7 online for help right now.
Published by on July 8, 2016 2:53 am, last updated on July 8, 2016 2:53 am
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