Home > Mac Viruses > Remove Congratulations Google User You’ve Been Selected for Mac Infections
THREAT REMOVAL

Remove Congratulations Google User You’ve Been Selected for Mac Infections

by   |  Last Update:  |  0 Comments  

This article will help you to remove Congratulations Google User You’ve Been Selected Pop-Up efficiently. Follow the redirect removal instructions given at the end of the article.

Congratulations Google User You’ve Been Selected is a browser pop-up infection. The website will redirect you to its own search engine and could push advertisements. While using its services, you can find yourself on unfamiliar pages with lots of pop-ups and sponsored content that go through this hijacker. The hijacker might change the start page, new tab, and search settings for the browser applications you have on your Mac.

Threat Summary

Name Congratulations Google User You've Been Selected
Type Intrusive Pop-Ups, PUP
Short Description Each browser application on your computer could get affected. The hijacker can redirect you and will display lots of advertisements.
Symptoms Browser settings which are altered are the homepage, search engine and the new tab.
Distribution Method Freeware Installations, Bundled Packages
Detection Tool See If Your System Has Been Affected by malware

Download

Malware Removal Tool
User Experience Join Our Forum to Discuss Congratulations Google User You've Been Selected.

Congratulations Google User You’ve Been Selected Pop-Up for Mac – Delivery

The “Congratulations Google User You’ve Been Selected Pop-Up” is a persistent and annoying threat that targets both iOS and Mac OS users. It is distributed using several methods such as the following:

  • Spam Sites — By mistyping addresses of well-known companies or Internet portals the users will be lured into the pop-ups. This is done by creating similar sounding pages and domain names.
  • Email Message Redirects — Spam messages that are part of large phishing campaigns can include the links to the pop-up. This is a common way of spreading such malicious threats to large groups of people. The senders can impersonate Google, Apple or other companies.
  • Infected Documents — Macro-infected documents of all popular types can be embedded with scripts that can call the pop-up browser. Such include all files that are text documents, spreadsheets, presentations or databases. When they are opened with the necessary office program the victims will be shown a prompt that asks them to enable the scripts. If this is done the code will open up and show the pop-ups.
  • Browser Hijackers — One of the main reasons sources of such infections is the creation and distribution of fake and malicious extensions for the most popular web browsers. Many of them have versions developed for the Mac and iOS operating systems as well. They are uploaded to their respective repositories with fake user reviews and developer credentials. Their descriptions will advertise performance optimizations and feature additions. When they are installed the users will be redirected to the pop-ups by changing default options: the home page, search engine and new tabs page.

Congratulations Google User You’ve Been Selected Pop-Up for Mac – Analysis

The Congratulations Google User You’ve Been Selected Pop-Up for Mac is a persistent threat which is being operated by different hackers and criminal groups. Many of them are created by smaller collectives and custom variants can arise in each subsequent campaign.

The pop-ups are usually caused by a visit of a malicious site or script instance. They promise gifts and promotions and various user interactions. This can cause various dangerous infections and system modifications:

The Congratulations Google User You’ve Been Selected Pop-Up for Mac can additionally cause other types of infections. A popular example is the installation of cryptocurrency miners. They can come in the form of both Javascript-based code or small stand-alone applications. Once they are run a connection to a hacker-controlled server will be made which will download complex mathematical tasks. Their execution will place a heavy performance cost on the computers/devices. When they are complete the hacker operators will receive income in the form of cryptocurrency which will automatically be transferred to their digital wallets.

Most of them can redirect the users to phishing pages where the victims will be asked to input their account credentials for various online services. If entered they will automatically be sent to the hacker operators. Additionally landing pages, pop-ups, banners and other web content can place intrusive tracking cookies which will monitor the users activity. If combined with a data harvesting component the data can be grouped into two main categories:

Remove Congratulations Google User You’ve Been Selected Pop-Up for Mac

To remove Congratulations Google User You’ve Been Selected Pop-Up manually from your computer or any unwanted software from your Mac device we recommend that you use a specific anti-malware for Mac machines. The main goal of such a program is to scan your machine and terminate the files with malicious behavior and also clean up any malicious code in your repositories. In addition, with a specific anti-malware program, your machine will remain with a better protection and stay healthy performance-wise in the future.

Martin Beltov

Martin graduated with a degree in Publishing from Sofia University. As a cyber security enthusiast he enjoys writing about the latest threats and mechanisms of intrusion.

More Posts

Follow Me:
Twitter

Related posts:
  1. “Dear Chrome User, Congratulations!” Scam Virus – Remove It This article has been created to help you understand what...
  2. How to Remove “Dear user, congratulations!” Scam This article presents information about an online scam dubbed “Dear...
  3. Remove Congratulations Safari is Up to Date POP-UP “Virus” Why does the screen Congratulations! Safari is up to date...
  4. Remove “Congratulations Netflix User” Pop-up Scam “Congratulations Netflix User” Pop-up Scam “Congratulations Netflix User” is an...
  5. Remove Congratulations Dear Amazon Customer Scam Amazon is a famous company that has been the subject...
  6. Remove “You’ve been randomly selected to test the new iPhone 9” Ads This article will aid you to remove „You’ve been randomly...
  7. Remove Solvability.biz Browser Redirect “Virus” Solvability.biz is an annoying browser redirect that has been reported...
  8. The Magic Ransomware Removal – Restore .Locked Files This article will aid you to remove The Magic ransomware...
OFFER
REMOVE IT NOW (MAC)
with SpyHunter for Mac
Congratulations Google User You've Been Selected may remain persistent on your system and may re-infect it. We recommend you to download SpyHunter for Mac and run free scan to remove all virus files on your Mac. This saves you hours of time and effort compared to doing the removal yourself.
Free Remover allows you, subject to a 48-hour waiting period, one remediation and removal for results found. Read EULA and Privacy Policy

Steps to Prepare Before Removal:

Before starting to follow the steps below, be advised that you should first do the following preparations:

Step 1: Scan for and remove Congratulations Google User You've Been Selected files from your Mac

When you are facing problems on your Mac as a result of unwanted scripts and programs such as Congratulations Google User You've Been Selected, the recommended way of eliminating the threat is by using an anti-malware program. SpyHunter for Mac offers advanced security features along with other modules that will improve your Mac’s security and protect it in the future.

Click the button below below to download SpyHunter for Mac and scan for Congratulations Google User You've Been Selected:


Download

SpyHunter for Mac

scan and remove mac virus step 1

Quick and Easy Mac Malware Video Removal Guide

Bonus Step: How to Make Your Mac Run Faster?

Mac machines maintain probably the fastest operating system out there. Still, Macs do become slow and sluggish sometimes. The video guide below examines all of the possible problems that may lead to your Mac being slower than usual as well as all of the steps that can help you to speed up your Mac.

Step 2: Uninstall Congratulations Google User You've Been Selected and remove related files and objects

OFFER
Manual Removal Usually Takes Time and You Risk Damaging Your Files If Not Careful!
We Recommend To Scan Your Mac with SpyHunter for Mac
Keep in mind, that SpyHunter for Mac needs to purchased to remove the malware threats. Click on the corresponding links to check SpyHunter’s EULA and Privacy Policy

1. Hit the ⇧+⌘+U keys to open Utilities. Another way is to click on “Go” and then click “Utilities”, like the image below shows:

remove mac virus step 1

2. Find Activity Monitor and double-click it:

remove mac virus step 2

3. In the Activity Monitor look for any suspicious processes, belonging or related to Congratulations Google User You've Been Selected:

remove mac virus step 3

Tip: To quit a process completely, choose the “Force Quit” option.

remove mac virus step 4

4. Click on the "Go" button again, but this time select Applications. Another way is with the ⇧+⌘+A buttons.

5. In the Applications menu, look for any suspicious app or an app with a name, similar or identical to Congratulations Google User You've Been Selected. If you find it, right-click on the app and select “Move to Trash”.

remove mac virus step 5

6. Select Accounts, after which click on the Login Items preference. Your Mac will then show you a list of items that start automatically when you log in. Look for any suspicious apps identical or similar to Congratulations Google User You've Been Selected. Check the app you want to stop from running automatically and then select on the Minus (“-“) icon to hide it.

7. Remove any leftover files that might be related to this threat manually by following the sub-steps below:

  • Go to Finder.
  • In the search bar type the name of the app that you want to remove.
  • Above the search bar change the two drop down menus to “System Files” and “Are Included” so that you can see all of the files associated with the application you want to remove. Bear in mind that some of the files may not be related to the app so be very careful which files you delete.
  • If all of the files are related, hold the ⌘+A buttons to select them and then drive them to “Trash”.

In case you cannot remove Congratulations Google User You've Been Selected via Step 1 above:

In case you cannot find the virus files and objects in your Applications or other places we have shown above, you can manually look for them in the Libraries of your Mac. But before doing this, please read the disclaimer below:

Disclaimer! If you are about to tamper with Library files on Mac, be sure to know the name of the virus file, because if you delete the wrong file, it may cause irreversible damage to your MacOS. Continue on your own responsibility!

1. Click on "Go" and Then "Go to Folder" as shown underneath:

fix mac virus from launch agents step 1

2. Type in "/Library/LauchAgents/" and click Ok:

fix mac virus from launch agents step 2

3. Delete all of the virus files that have similar or the same name as Congratulations Google User You've Been Selected. If you believe there is no such file, do not delete anything.

fix mac virus from launch agents step 3

You can repeat the same procedure with the following other Library directories:

→ ~/Library/LaunchAgents
/Library/LaunchDaemons

Tip: ~ is there on purpose, because it leads to more LaunchAgents.

Step 3: Remove Congratulations Google User You've Been Selected – related extensions from Safari / Chrome / Firefox

Remove an extension from Safari and reset it.Remove a toolbar from Google ChromeRemove a toolbar from Mozilla Firefox

1. Start Safari

2. After hovering your mouse cursor to the top of the screen, click on the Safari text to open its drop down menu.

3. From the menu, click on "Preferences"

Remove Mac virus from safari step 1

4. After that, select the 'Extensions' Tab

Remove Mac virus from safari step 2

5. Click once on the extension you want to remove.

6. Click 'Uninstall'

Remove Mac virus from safari step 3

A pop-up window will appear asking for confirmation to uninstall the extension. Select 'Uninstall' again, and the Congratulations Google User You've Been Selected will be removed.

How to Reset Safari
IMPORTANT: Before resetting Safari make sure you back up all your saved passwords within the browser in case you forget them.

Start Safari and then click on the gear leaver icon.

Click the Reset Safari button and you will reset the browser.

1. Start Google Chrome and open the drop menu

remove mac virus from google chrome step 1

2. Move the cursor over "Tools" and then from the extended menu choose "Extensions"

remove mac virus from google chrome step 2

3. From the opened "Extensions" menu locate the add-on and click on the garbage bin icon on the right of it.

remove mac virus from google chrome step 3

4. After the extension is removed, restart Google Chrome by closing it from the red "X" in the top right corner and start it again.


1. Start Mozilla Firefox. Open the menu window

2. Select the "Add-ons" icon from the menu.

remove mac virus from mozilla firefox step 1

3. Select the Extension and click "Remove"

remove mac virus from mozilla firefox step 2

4. After the extension is removed, restart Mozilla Firefox by closing it from the red "X" in the top right corner and start it again.

Congratulations Google User You've Been Selected-FAQ

What is Congratulations Google User You've Been Selected on your Mac?

The Congratulations Google User You've Been Selected threat is probably a potentially unwanted app. There is also a chance it could be related to Mac malware. If so, such apps tend to slow your Mac down significantly and display advertisements. They could also use cookies and other trackers to obtain browsing information from the installed web browsers on your Mac.

Can Macs Get Viruses?

Yes. As much as any other device, Apple computers do get malware. Apple devices may not be a frequent target by malware authors, but rest assured that almost all of the Apple devices can become infected with a threat.

What Types of Mac Threats Are There?

According to most malware researchers and cyber-security experts, the types of threats that can currently infect your Mac can be rogue antivirus programs, adware or hijackers (PUPs), Trojan horses, ransomware and crypto-miner malware.

What To Do If I Have a Mac Virus, Like Congratulations Google User You've Been Selected?

Do not panic! You can easily get rid of most Mac threats by firstly isolating them and then removing them. One recommended way to do that is by using a reputable malware removal software that can take care of the removal automatically for you.

There are many Mac anti-malware apps out there that you can choose from. SpyHunter for Mac is one of the reccomended Mac anti-malware apps, that can scan for free and detect any viruses. This saves time for manual removal that you would otherwise have to do.

How to Secure My Data from Congratulations Google User You've Been Selected?

With few simple actions. First and foremost, it is imperative that you follow these steps:

Step 1: Find a safe computer and connect it to another network, not the one that your Mac was infected in.

Step 2: Change all of your passwords, starting from your e-mail passwords.

Step 3: Enable two-factor authentication for protection of your important accounts.

Step 4: Call your bank to change your credit card details (secret code, etc.) if you have saved your credit card for online shopping or have done online activiites with your card.

Step 5: Make sure to call your ISP (Internet provider or carrier) and ask them to change your IP address.

Step 6: Change your Wi-Fi password.

Step 7: (Optional): Make sure to scan all of the devices connected to your network for viruses and repeat these steps for them if they are affected.

Step 8: Install anti-malware software with real-time protection on every device you have.

Step 9: Try not to download software from sites you know nothing about and stay away from low-reputation websites in general.

If you follow these reccomendations, your network and Apple devices will become significantly more safe against any threats or information invasive software and be virus free and protected in the future too.

More tips you can find on our MacOS Virus section, where you can also ask any questions and comment about your Mac problems.

About the Congratulations Google User You've Been Selected Research

The content we publish on SensorsTechForum.com, this Congratulations Google User You've Been Selected how-to removal guide included, is the outcome of extensive research, hard work and our team’s devotion to help you remove the specific macOS issue.

How did we conduct the research on Congratulations Google User You've Been Selected?

Please note that our research is based on an independent investigation. We are in contact with independent security researchers, thanks to which we receive daily updates on the latest malware definitions, including the various types of Mac threats, especially adware and potentially unwanted apps (PUAs).

Furthermore, the research behind the Congratulations Google User You've Been Selected threat is backed with VirusTotal.

To better understand the threat posed by Mac malware, please refer to the following articles which provide knowledgeable details.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This website uses cookies to improve user experience. By using our website you consent to all cookies in accordance with our Privacy Policy.
I Agree