Pop up on iPhone claims viruses on phone.

[lclev]

As the subject states, my girlfriend had a message supposedly from Google on her iPhone 7 saying she had four viruses on her phone from visiting porn sites. Well, my very conservative Christian girlfriend freaked. She called me immediately - from the iPhone with the message. She then proceeded to drive to my house so I could fix her phone, telling me the whole way that she had never ever visited porn sites. My thoughts were that I hope she doesn't run over anyone as she drives.

Unfortunately, I did not get to see the message as when she switched to call me it went away. I tried to get her to retrace her steps. She had been reading her emails, might have followed a link that may have opened Safari but really could not figure out which ones.... her mind kind of bounces like a cat chasing a red pointer light. She could not remember if it had a number to call or any other instructions because she froze after seeing the words virus and porn.

So needless to say I could not recreate the popup issue. I did clear her Safari browser history. She does not have google chrome on her phone. I am sure there are no viruses. Has anyone else seen anything like this? Also did I miss anything I could have done to eliminate it happening again?

Lisa

 

[Slydude]

I think I read something about this a few months ago but haven't found much useful info when I did a search, As usual most sites aren't making any sort of distinction between viruses and malware. Most of what I did find suggest that the culprit was probably a browser hijack so you've probably covered things.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/iphone-virus-ios-security-how-get-rid-2016-mike-rogan

https://www.lifewire.com/is-it-possible-iphone-virus-1999742

 

[lclev]

Thanks Sly!

I googled the heck out of her problem and basically found suggestions from resetting the browser to doing a reset all settings on the phone - which is a drastic step I don't want to take until it is necessary.

Have you ever noticed there are some people who no matter what, will mess up a device or computer in a way you would never envision and they will have no idea how they did it? Well she is firmly a member of that group! Everytime I go to her house her husband greets me by saying, "Hey, tech support is here!" Sadly, most of the time that is what I am doing.

Lisa

 

[Slydude]

ROTFL. I know a few people who are charter members of that group. I get SOS calls from them from time to time.

Unfortunately, most of these folks are Windows users,

 

[lclev]

Yeah, she has a Windows laptop. She went through a half dozen Android pay-as-you-go phones that she kept losing. It took me having a hissy fit and the full backing of her husband to get her to switch to an iPhone. She loves it but if anyone could mess one up - she can.

Lisa

 

[Randy B. Singer]

As the subject states, my girlfriend had a message supposedly from Google on her iPhone 7 saying she had four viruses on her phone from visiting porn sites. ...Has anyone else seen anything like this? Also did I miss anything I could have done to eliminate it happening again?

This is simply a variation on the Scareware that is common for the Macintosh:

Scary Internet Scam Becoming Disturbingly Common
http://tidbits.com/article/15777

It's totally caused by a bit of Javascript that was embedded in an ad pushed to an otherwise innocent Web site that she visited. There is no malware on her phone and there is nothing at all to be concerned about as long as you DON'T CALL ANY PHONE NUMBER IN THE MESSAGE!

The only problem occurs if you find that you can't navigate away from the scary message. I think that Apple has patched iOS so that can't occur anymore, but if it does, this Web site is devoted specifically to the iPhone version of this scam and how you can navigate away from it:
iPhone iPod-Touch Scam

 

[lclev]

Randy - that is what I figured. I do need to make sure her iPhone has iOS up to date. I will not be surprised to see it is not. Sigh.....

Lisa