Google Chrome malware...?

Today out of nowhere, a message popped up in Google Chrome that appeared to be malware... or ransonware to be more specific.  It was on our primary laptop at home, which had the lid open but nobody was using it and no programs were open.  With no user action, a Google Chrome window popped up with a long message that said something like "Your computer is locked, Windows has detected a problem, call 1-800-xxx-xxxx to resolve this issue" etc.  It was a long message on a large pop-up box, but that was the basic message.

I should have taken a photo or screenshot, but I didn't want to activate any executable viruses, so I went into Task Manager and terminated Google Chrome that way.  Plugged in a flash drive and external hard drive, and backed up everything important.  I then uninstalled Chrome, and started running virus scans. 

- AdAware quick scan, no threats found.
- Malwarebytes, 1 malware item found, but it had an Adaware file location so I'm guessing it was previously quarantined.
- Windows Defender, full scan, still working as I type (on another computer).

I don't use Google Chrome for regular browsing, and only downloaded it a month or so ago to be able to stream internet video onto our TV using a Google Chromecast.  So it's strange that Chrome is where that message popped up.  I'll plan to reinstall it with a new download, want to make sure everything suspicious is cleared out first.

I opened up some recent documents, and nothing (so far) seems to affected outside of Chrome.

Any other ideas?

Are you deeply opposed to switching to a mac?

Maybe sometime, but its not gonna happen today anyhow.

Lol gotcha. Just saying! So much less effort and maintenance to take care of that kind of stuff...like ya know, basically none  ;D
If you google popular malware chrome seems to be under total attack right now via Wordpress sites. Sounds like your files are backed up and safe though, so you should be okay.

If it happens again go to another computer and type the message into Google Search.  You will probably see several other people have already had the problem and cured it.

I have had it twice on different computers, I just close the window and went on with life.

JFN said:

I have had it twice on different computers, I just close the window and went on with life.

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Yeah, I was going to say to the OP that that doesn't sound like malware or anything specific to Chrome. Just sounds like a pop-up that can be safely ignored. But how it "opened itself" is beyond me - I'm guessing maybe the browser was open but minimized and he didn't know it?

I know my cat has done some pretty messed-up things on my computer because he thinks it's fun to stretch out on the keyboard. I've had to Google how to FIX some of the stuff he's done. 

yeah, I'm certainly no expert, but form the sounds of it I would think it's probably nothing to do with chrome..... just an annoying window pop-up to close and move on with life (since you didn't execute anything form it)
I know back in the day, there used to be some good online malware scanners to run, if you thought there might be something on your machine.  You might want to do some research..... I used to listen to Kim Kommando on the radio, maybe she has something about it on her site.
http://www.komando.com

Someone mentioned mac.  I ran mac for several years.  Still have a couple.  They used to be very safe but with increased popularity I understand they are less so now.  Still a good platform and solid hardware, and probably still a lot better than windows in many ways....
But I switched to chromebook a few years ago and have no reason to look back. Does everything an average person needs, and little to no hassle with this kind of stuff.  and not that it's really necesary, but A complete full factory wipe reset of the machine just takes minutes, not the headache you'll get with a windows or mac.

Mine was definitely Google Chrome that opened up (spontaneously) and was displaying a message very similar to the one seen in this article.  I have no idea where it was picked up though, since the only two websites I think I've ever visited from Chrome are CBS.com and our church's site... both for streaming video content.

In any event, hopefully it's done and over with.  Tell you what, that warning sure got me to jump on an immediate data backup!  I am otherwise a procrastinator on that task most times.

If I can arrange a backup onto one of our other home computers (we have 3, networked via wifi to one another with a Windows Homegroup) for photos/music/videos, I may go with a Chromebook next time around for our "primary" laptop.

I started using Carbonite online backup a few years ago.  Cheap protection against ransomware, computer crashes etc.  There are other similar services out there like Idrive.  The initial back up will take some time (or in the case of Idrive, they send you a hard drive, you dump to it and send it back) then they just work in the background keeping you up to date on all your info.

Have had it happen to me several times as I browse Publisher's Clearing House.

It is indeed a Scam, when the popup appears there is no Mal-ware other than, in some cases, the Pop Up itself,,, this may be so designed you can't get it to go away without a power down of the computer and a restart.. (Which is what I did to it. had to hard power down (Lean on power button for so many seconds or remove all sources of power)_ as it even disabled the START menu.

You click on the link, most any link, in the stupid thing and REAL malware is installed.

I reported the ones I saw to the proper agency and no longer see those.. but I'm sure they will pop up again

The scammers actually pay for advertising believe it or not so they can scam you, Enough Byte it's profitable..... till that is they get caught.

The other way to close the window is open the task manager (alt, control, delete) and shut the browser window from there using the end process dialogue.  We use Firefox and occasionally get an official looking full page window opening that says you need to update your Firefox browser.  It has the Firefox logo etc. however if you look at the URL address bar, it is not Firefox, but rather some oddball web  site that wants to infect your computer.  I just X out and go about my business.  Firefox updates itself automatically . . .

rockman said:

I started using Carbonite online backup a few years ago.  Cheap protection against ransomware, computer crashes etc. 

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I also use Carbonite, however I have often wondered if it provides any protection against ransomware. As I understand most ransomware, it encrypts all the files on your HDD. The files can be seen but cannot be opened. My concern is that Carbonite would simply copy (backup) the encrypted files, possibly even overwriting those already archived. This would leave one with nothing but a copy of the same unopenable files you already have on your HDD. I don't know one way or the other, but I'm thinking this may be true.

In addition to Carbonite, about once per month I make a drive image on a portable HDD, using Macrium Reflect free version. I then unplug the portable drive, and store it in our safe. At least I can fall back and lose nothing more than a month if disaster occurs.

scottydl said:

Today out of nowhere, a message popped up in Google Chrome that appeared to be malware... or ransonware to be more specific.  It was on our primary laptop at home, which had the lid open but nobody was using it and no programs were open.  With no user action, a Google Chrome window popped up with a long message that said something like "Your computer is locked, Windows has detected a problem, call 1-800-xxx-xxxx to resolve this issue" etc.  It was a long message on a large pop-up box, but that was the basic message.

I should have taken a photo or screenshot, but I didn't want to activate any executable viruses, so I went into Task Manager and terminated Google Chrome that way.  Plugged in a flash drive and external hard drive, and backed up everything important.  I then uninstalled Chrome, and started running virus scans. 

- AdAware quick scan, no threats found.
- Malwarebytes, 1 malware item found, but it had an Adaware file location so I'm guessing it was previously quarantined.
- Windows Defender, full scan, still working as I type (on another computer).

I don't use Google Chrome for regular browsing, and only downloaded it a month or so ago to be able to stream internet video onto our TV using a Google Chromecast.  So it's strange that Chrome is where that message popped up.  I'll plan to reinstall it with a new download, want to make sure everything suspicious is cleared out first.

I opened up some recent documents, and nothing (so far) seems to affected outside of Chrome.

Any other ideas?

Click to expand...

That was not a Chrome thing, per se, but you picked it up from some site you visited. There is no actual infection, and you can just close Chrome. Though you want to delete your cookies and browser history to clean it out.
If you call that number, THAT is when you run into a problem. Don't do that.

I've had it happen to me a few times. The internet address I tried to copy and it was HUGE, like thousands of characters, it filled up like 2 pages, it was so long. Kinda scary!

No idea how it popped up out of nowhere.

Have also had the fake blue screen pop up with a toll free number and so on.

I backed up everything and I ran all the freebies including Trend House Call and the Malwear stuff etc.

https://www.trendmicro.com/en_us/forHome/products/housecall.html

I even ran House call on the deep scan which took all night and half the day.

I never seemed to find the culprit! But it stopped happening.

A friend of mine most unfortunately... an executive who retired who should have known better, DUH,  fell for the scam and CALLED the 800 number. They sold her a pile of goods and planted crap all over her computer rendering it useless then wanted more more more money to keep fixing things they were breaking. I didn't have time to fix her mess but her new boyfriend did. He spent hours upon hours getting rid of the mountain of crap the malicious company had planted on purpose to cause more problems for them to solve for a fee  and getting her protected again from that nightmare happening again. We both lectured her at length to engage brain before randomly calling companies and handing out her credit card to the first idiot that answers just because some screen on her computer ordered her to do so. She still keeps trying to justify why she called them and trusted them, but it still makes no sense to me. Life is goof.

PS

RansomWare is the perfect term for that!

Www.majorgeeks.com has every ransomware removal tool known.  Also all the known virus removal tools.

Even though it was potentially harmless as a browser pop-up, I didn't want to take any chances.  My work computer was infected by true ransomware a few years ago (through no direct action of mine, such as clicking on a link or calling a number and allowing computer access) and it blocked access to dozens of crucial files.  Luckily, the computer is on a secure network that is backed up every few days... so everything was able to be restored (manually, by me, file by file) with little data loss.  Unfortunately, my home computers are not on such a networked system.

rockman said:

The other way to close the window is open the task manager (alt, control, delete) and shut the browser window from there using the end process dialogue.

Click to expand...

That's exactly what I did.

After uninstalling Chrome and running all the virus/malware scans, I also used ccleaner to delete the cookies/browser history/unwanted files from all my browers just in case something spilled over.  Firefox is my regular daily browser.

Apparently there are enough MACs out there now to attract the crapheads. See MAC DOWNLOADER MALWARE


Edit: Removed erroneous tags.

Clay L said:

Apparently there are enough MACs out there now to attract the crapheads. See MAC DOWNLOADER MALWARE

Click to expand...

There are, and there have been a few floating in the past, but its nowhere near as easy to make well written and executed malware for macs. Especially when Windows is such an easy target. Had my mac since 2009, downloaded lots of textbooks over four years (sorry government) with bittorrent and still never had a single issue. It runs exactly like the day I bought it.

You could make the same argument for a well taken care of PC but at the end of the day I have spent a total of ~3 hours updating and maintaining in the last 8 years, opposed to the 3 hours weekly PC maintenance takes.

Just something to consider