„Your Mac is Infected with 3 Viruses“ Scam Message Removal

George Herman

IT Security Expert

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What is “Your Mac is Infected with 3 Viruses”

The “Your Mac is infected with 3 viruses” is a fake error message, which tries to make you think your system is infected with three viruses. In order to remove them, the scam message will urge you to scan your computer. This is a common scam model, used by cyber criminals. With this scheme, they aim to make you install unreliable software, promoted as a useful AV app or a system optimization tool. But, the main goal is to make you purchase the full version of the promoted software, and share your personal information. Do not believe its lies! And most importantly, do not waste your money and share private data like bank account credentials, credit card numbers, etc.

How it is distributed

This fake error message is known to appear when you visit or get redirected to unreliable websites. And, its warning is only partially correct. The thing is, this message is generated by malicious software from the PUA (potentially unwanted application) category, which currently resides on your computer system. The pesky app is programmed to display this message, to make you share sensitive data and pay for harmful software. But how did this PUA manage to invade your Mac? Well, usually the user is unaware that they’re installing it themselves. This can happen when you open email attachments from unknown senders, engage with fake update messages and shady promotions online, or when you deal with torrent files, freeware and software bundles. Most commonly, malicious applications are being disguised as ‘bonus’ content in an installer. When you’re trying to install software on your computer, always choose the custom or advanced option. This will give you full control over the process, and you’ll be able to easily opt out of such additional installations. If you fail to do this, any optional software will get installed on your Mac by default.

How it operates

As we already explained, the “Your Mac is infected with 3 viruses” scam message is being displayed by nasty parasite that is residing on your Mac. However, it may also perform other malicious task on your PC. PUAs are known to also display numerous intrusive ads, pop-ups, banners and other type of dubious promotions. They will be specifically customized to be as attractive as possible, so you are more tempted to click on them. Such sponsored content can lead to rogue websites, which seek to infect your Mac with viruses. To make sure the displayed ads are to your liking, the parasite will monitor your online activity and obtain data like browser history and search results, to better customize the displayed ads. But, that may not be the only obtained information. Your passwords, GPS coordinates, IP addresses, Login credentials and banking data may also get stolen by this parasite. The only way you can deal with his fake error message, and make sure your private data is protected, is by removing the PUA responsible for the nasty “Your Mac is infected with 3 viruses” scam.

Staying safe from “Your Mac is Infected with 3 Viruses”

Apart from having a reliable AV software installed on your Mac, there are other things you can do to ensure your device’s safety. We highly recommend you to:

• Pay close attention when you install third-party software, especially torrent files, so you don’t install shady additional applications that you don’t want. In most cases, that’s how malicious parasites are able to infect your computer;
• Read any Terms and Conditions you see, so you know exactly what you agree to. The last thing you want is to unknowingly give permission to a nasty virus to infiltrate your Mac;
• Follow links that lead to trustworthy sites only;
• It is best to visit only reliable and official websites. You never know what dangers might lurk behind an unfamiliar site;
• No matter how attractive an ad is, if you are not familiar with the website it redirects to, it might be best to steer clear of it and not click;
• Always check the sender’s email address before opening a message. If it states that it’s from an official company, compare the email with the one given in their official page. If there is no match, delete the message, since it most likely is fake and has malicious aims;
• Don’t open email attachments from unknown senders. More often than not, such files carry infections that can seriously damage your computer.

How to manually remove “Your Mac is Infected with 3 Viruses” from Mac

If you’ve had the misfortune of getting your Mac infected with the “Your Mac is Infected with 3 Viruses” scam message, the instructions below can help you to remove it manually. Here’s what you need to do:

1. Go to Utilities. You can do that by using the ⇧+⌘+U key combination, or by going to Finder and choosing Utilities from the Go main menu at the top.

2. Find Activity Monitor and double-click it.

3. A list will be displayed. Find any processes that seem suspicious to you and use the ‘Force Quit‘ option to quit them completely.

4. Open Finder. Click on the Go button from the main menu at the top, and choose Applications. An alternative way is to use the ⇧+⌘+A key combination.

5. Look for any suspicious applications, especially ones with a name similar to “Your Mac is Infected with 3 Viruses”. If any are found, right-click on them and select the ‘Move to Trash‘ option.

6. Remove any related left-over files by going to Finder‘s search bar and typing the name of the app you want to remove. Make sure to modify the two drop down menus above to ‘System Files‘ and ‘Are Included‘, so that any hidden files are visible for you to remove. Once you find the files you want to remove, simply drag them to Trash.

7. All that’s left for you to do is remove any related extensions to “Your Mac is Infected with 3 Viruses” from your Mac browsers.

For Mozilla Firefox extensions:

• Open the Firefox browser and from the ‘burger’ menu in the top right corner of the window select ‘Add-ons’.
• Select any suspicious extensions that may be related to the virus and click ‘Remove’.

For Google Chrome extensions:

• Open the Chrome browser and select Tools > Extensions from the menu (the three dots in the top right corner of the browser window).
• Locate any suspicious extensions that may be related to the virus and remove them.

For Safari extensions:

• Open the Safari browser. From the Safari menu choose Preferences. Select Extensions from the options at the top.
• Find any extensions you think are related to the virus, select them and click ‘Uninstall’. A new window will show up asking for confirmation. Click Uninstall again, for the extension to get deleted permanently from your browser.