Home Malware Programs Browser Hijackers '888-898-3501' Pop-Ups

'888-898-3501' Pop-Ups

Posted: September 12, 2016

The '888-898-3501' pop-ups are technical support hoaxes that claim to be alerting PC users to a variety of security issues, including threat infections. Con artists may use these attacks to gain access to your PC or collect money by selling a fake PC repair product. Legitimate security software, such as anti-malware and anti-adware suites, can remove the '888-898-3501' pop-ups by deleting their associated local files, but even a single encounter with these pop-ups can endanger your system.

The Invisible Price of an Initially Free Technical Support

The differences between the security alerts of your installed software, the built-in content alerts of browsers like Chrome, and the fake pop-up warnings delivering themselves through unsafe sources aren't always visible. Hoaxes like the '888-898-3501' pop-ups operate under the deception of pretending to have your best interests at heart while, at best, promoting questionably useful products, or, at worst, trying to help a hacker access your PC. This hoax campaign's compatibility with modern browsers like Edge only emphasizes that threats of this category still are striving to keep up-to-date versus current security solutions.

Malware analysts confirmed the '888-898-3501' pop-ups remain active as of late August and deploying themselves against multiple brands of Web browsers. Once they load, the '888-898-3501' pop-ups deliver fake security information, such as claiming that your PC has been compromised by a Trojan, and ask you to call the associated phone number. Hazards that may be associated with this course of action include:

  • Con artists may ask you to provide remote access to your machine so that they can scan or otherwise repair your computer. The '888-898-3501' pop-ups attacks are associated with RDP services such as fastsupport.com especially (which is not a threatening website, but offers services that con artists may abuse). Once they have remote access, they can install arbitrary software, change essential system settings or collect information.
  • With or without the aforementioned remote access, a remote attacker may attempt to sell a service or software package for repairing or disinfecting the PC. Some versions of the '888-898-3501' pop-ups also include content promoting PUP.Reimage, for example. Both Potentially Unwanted Programs with few beneficial features and some types of threatening software may disguise themselves as being capable system-scanning repair/security tools.

Excavating the Cause of Another Pop-Up Infestation

Attacks like the '888-898-3501' pop-ups are a mainstay of the portion of the threat industry responsible for developing and selling rogue security products like AntiVirus PRO 2015 or SpeedUpMyComputer. These categories of threatening software often can block real security programs, hijack your Web browsers or damage the system Registry. Even without installing such software, a threat actor may use the opportunity of exposure via the '888-898-3501' pop-ups to collect your credit card information or provoke fraudulent charges.

Advertising networks, corrupted websites, and websites modified by a remote attacker all are potential hosts for the '888-898-3501' pop-ups. As of the most recent incidents, malware experts mainly connect the '888-898-3501' pop-ups with exposure to adware and Trojans with browser-hijacking payloads, both of which can redirect you to an unwanted site or load a pop-up automatically. Delete both the '888-898-3501' pop-ups and the software launching them by scanning your PC with any good anti-malware tool and verify that no associated content is being from your Web browser's cache.

The fact that campaigns like the '888-898-3501' pop-ups continue occurring signifies their overall effectiveness against unprepared, unprotected and ill-informed PC users. Use browser settings with your safety kept in mind and inform yourself about common hoaxes to keep the '888-898-3501' pop-ups from profiting off of the Web.

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