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I got a red screen that said I had been infected and needed to call Mozilla on a toll free number. Is it for real?

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  • Last reply by Homers24

Homers24
Homers24

I was on RAWSTORY site. Clicked on a story and instead I got a red screen that said Mozilla. It said I had been infected with a serious virus and there was a dialog box asking for my user name and password. It also had an 800 number to call that said it was Mozilla support. It would not let me get off that screen or go to another browser window. I did cnt+alt+delete to get to my task manager and shut down. I ran a PC matic scan and then shut my computer off. Then when I got fired back up Firefox was working fine.

Is this some kind of scam? Or do I need to contact you guys?

I was on RAWSTORY site. Clicked on a story and instead I got a red screen that said Mozilla. It said I had been infected with a serious virus and there was a dialog box asking for my user name and password. It also had an 800 number to call that said it was Mozilla support. It would not let me get off that screen or go to another browser window. I did cnt+alt+delete to get to my task manager and shut down. I ran a PC matic scan and then shut my computer off. Then when I got fired back up Firefox was working fine. Is this some kind of scam? Or do I need to contact you guys?

Chosen solution

Hi   !

Good for you to be on the alert   ! It's a scam and you should definately not call that phone number.

See : https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/avoid-and-report-mozilla-tech-support-scams

To be on the safe side, please run all anti-virus scans mentioned in this article :

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/troubleshoot-firefox-issues-caused-malware


To prevent this from happening again, you could consider this add-on :

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/ublock-origin/

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All Replies (4)

Paul
Paul
  • Moderator
  • Top 10 Contributor

Thanks for reporting a fake update. Please see the article I found a fake Firefox update.

Homers24
Homers24 Question owner

Seburo said

Thanks for reporting a fake update. Please see the article I found a fake Firefox update.

This is close but not really what I got. What I got was a screen that looked like what you posted but it wasn't for an update. It said I had been infected with a virus that could damage my hard drive. It had a dialog box asking for my user name and password (which I couldn't even remember) and then had an 888 number to call that said it was Mozilla support. And it would not let me leave that page or open another browser window. Although it seems to be working fine now.

Happy112
Happy112

Chosen Solution

Hi   !

Good for you to be on the alert   ! It's a scam and you should definately not call that phone number.

See : https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/avoid-and-report-mozilla-tech-support-scams

To be on the safe side, please run all anti-virus scans mentioned in this article :

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/troubleshoot-firefox-issues-caused-malware


To prevent this from happening again, you could consider this add-on :

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/ublock-origin/

Homers24
Homers24 Question owner

Happy112 said

Hi   ! Good for you to be on the alert   ! It's a scam and you should definately not call that phone number. See : https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/avoid-and-report-mozilla-tech-support-scams To be on the safe side, please run all anti-virus scans mentioned in this article : https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/troubleshoot-firefox-issues-caused-malware To prevent this from happening again, you could consider this add-on : https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/ublock-origin/


Ok this fixed my problem and I'm glad I didn't fall for the scam. And now I will run the anti virus scans.

Thanks