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I am constantly getting a phishing screen asking me to update Firefox by opening a binary download.

  • 4 replies
  • 6 have this problem
  • 50 views
  • Last reply by James

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I have several questions.

1. Do you have a division or site that handles attempted fraud using the mazolla name? 2. Why isn't phishing or fraud a topic along with others listed? 3. How do I block something that has slipped past your filters? 4. Is there a way to block content? All I find is a way to block sites. Phishers jump from site to site and send the same message. 5. Why can't there be a more direct way to communicate with mozilla? This procedure is way too complex with too many steps.

I am using Windows 7 and the latest Firefox.

I have several questions. 1. Do you have a division or site that handles attempted fraud using the mazolla name? 2. Why isn't phishing or fraud a topic along with others listed? 3. How do I block something that has slipped past your filters? 4. Is there a way to block content? All I find is a way to block sites. Phishers jump from site to site and send the same message. 5. Why can't there be a more direct way to communicate with mozilla? This procedure is way too complex with too many steps. I am using Windows 7 and the latest Firefox.

All Replies (4)

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hi, when a website uses the firefox logos or trademarks to trick users into downloading malware you could also file it at https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/legal/fraud-report/.

we have received quite a number of user questions like yours in the past few days & i suspect those fake upgrade notices are triggered by malicious ads on websites which might be spread through normal ad networks. so maybe using an adblocking addon can help here in the first place: https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/ublock-origin/

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In addition to uBlock Origin as philipp mentioned if that stuff is getting distributed via advertising networks ...

Firefox does have anti-phishing protection built-in. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-does-phishing-and-malware-protection-work

Each user can report a phishing event using the Report Web Forgery... menu item in the Help menu. That will capture the URL and autocomplete the URL field here: https://www.google.com/safebrowsing/report_phish/ That form will help getting that URL added to the "blocklist".

But with what's been happening for the last couple of weeks, it seems that the URL's get changed daily or multiple times daily, so it becomes a game of "wack-a-mole" between the perpetrator and the "blocklist". And I have seen mention that this may involve newly created domains that start spreading that crap immediately; one user tracked "his received attack" from a day-old domain that was registered to an address in Texas, and hosted in Canada.

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What is needed is a way to block content. For example part of the message was a window that wanted me to save a downloaded file. Or that was what they wanted me to believe it was. It seems like there should be a way to block anything that asks for a download. The logic behind this is if an app needs updating, a simple message for me to go to their website is sufficient.

I have noticed that every message comes from a different address. That is why blocking an address will not work with a determined phisher.

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thatisme said

1. Do you have a division or site that handles attempted fraud using the mazolla name? 2. Why isn't phishing or fraud a topic along with others listed? 5. Why can't there be a more direct way to communicate with mozilla? This procedure is way too complex with too many steps. I am using Windows 7 and the latest Firefox.

1. See the Report Trademark Abuse link on bottom of many mozilla.org pages.

2. I started a thread about this at https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/forums/contributors/712056

5. Mozilla does not have the resources to have a call center for free one on one support by chat, phone or email for free products/projects like Firefox.