Fake Microsoft Virus Popups Explained

Fake Microsoft virus popups are a form of scareware designed to make you think your computer is infected with a virus, when in reality what you are seeing is a giant advertisement or scam attempt.

These popups often claim that you must urgently contact a phone number for “technical support.” They may display frightening warnings on your laptop screen saying that the police will be contacted, your banking information has been compromised, or your computer has been locked due to viruses.

These fake virus warnings are designed to take over your entire screen and may prevent you from closing your browser or using your computer normally. No matter how many times you try to close the popup, it often keeps returning. There is almost always a fake “tech support” number displayed somewhere on the screen.

To be clear, Microsoft will never contact you this way to tell you that your computer has a virus. That is not how Microsoft operates. Legitimate Microsoft security warnings come through Windows Security or Microsoft Defender, not through random browser popups demanding that you call a phone number.

So What Is the Scam?

The goal is to scare you into contacting the scammers. Once you call them or otherwise interact with them, they will try to gain your trust and convince you to allow remote access to your computer. This is often done using remote access software that may already be installed on your system or software they instruct you to download.

The Next Stage of the Scam

Once the scammers gain access to your computer, they may be able to access:

• browser history
• saved passwords
• personal files
• email accounts
• banking information

In many cases, they will show you normal Windows system logs or harmless warnings and falsely claim these are proof that your computer is infected. They will then offer to “fix” the problems for a fee.

At this point, even if you never provide a credit card number, the scammers may still have viewed, copied, or accessed sensitive information stored on your computer, including saved browser passwords and personal files.

So what should you do if you get a Fake Microsoft Virus Popup? (note - this is before you call the scam phone number)

You need to force your web browser to shut down.

On a PC: you can do this by pressing Ctrl + Shift + Esc.
On a Mac: you can do this by pressing Command + Option + Escape.

This should force your browser to close.

If that does not work, you can always force your computer to shut down and restart it. If all else fails, press and hold the power button for several seconds. This will force the computer to shut off.

Then restart it again. When you open your web browser, the fake pop-up message should be gone.

What if you called the scammers and let them into your computer?

You will need to contact your bank and other online services that you do business with.  You should also contact a reputable computer repair shop to clean your computer of any remote access programs and malware.  

At RescueTECH.  We fix computer problems like this all the time, and we understand that privacy and data security are important.  Unfortuantely we see many scams involving someone losing money through a caller remote accessing a client computer.  During the scam cleanup process, our technicians focus on removing malicious software and restoring system stability without unnecessarily accessing your personal files.

If your computer is behaving suspiciously or displaying fake virus warnings, bring it to RescueTECH at 2225 14th Avenue in Regina for professional diagnostics and malware cleanup services.

Walk-ins welcome weekdays from 10am – 5:30pm.