This article will aid you to remove the WannaCry Detected scam fully. Follow the tech support scam removal instructions at the end of the article.
WannaCry Detected is a message seen on various websites that host a tech support scam with a phone number that allegedly belongs to Microsoft support. Constant pop-ups that show and the way such landing pages are designed, will lock the page of the browser. The browser can be shut down successfully in some cases, without any repercussions, but in other ones your computer and browser might get affected further with more malware. Most variants of this scam feature a background image that looks almost exactly the official Microsoft Windows website. Do not call any phone numbers and read more about the scam below.
Threat Summary
| Name | WannaCry Detected |
| Type | Tech Support Scam |
| Short Description | A number of tech support scams trying to scare you that you have the WannaCry virus on your PC. You are provided with a phone number to a supposed Microsoft tech support team. |
| Symptoms | Messages, pop-up boxes, and redirects appear in your browser. It is not excluded for there to be a lockscreen function among these, or your PC freezing because of the activity going on in your browser related to the scam. |
| Distribution Method | Freeware Installers, Suspicious Sites, Redirects |
| Detection Tool |
See If Your System Has Been Affected by malware
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Malware Removal Tool
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| User Experience | Join Our Forum to Discuss WannaCry Detected. |
WannaCry Detected Scam – Update January 2018
The scam regarding the WannaCry Virus being supposedly detected on your computer machine continues to be spreading, and campaigns have been detected in December, continuing now in January 2018. A bit surprising, considering that the WannaCry outbreak was back in May and people should have secured their systems since then. What is even more preposterous is the fact that some of these scams will try to convince you that your information is going to be posted in a North Korean server of WannaCry although the activity of the malware has seized. See an example of such a website below:
WannaCry Detected Scam – Distribution
Surfing the Web can be dangerous, especially when you reach new and unknown websites by causally browsing. Clicking on advertisements or targeted content could have hidden links that redirect you to dubious online places. That is the most common way in which this kind of a tech support scam can use for its distribution. Other websites could filled with advertisements and redirect links and you could land on a page which has the WannaCry Detected message.
Below you can see how one of the domains spreading this tech support scam, namely systembootupdatexxxvirusfound.info, fairs with the VirusTotal malware detection service:
Freeware applications, regarded as PUPs (potentially unwanted programs) could also distribute this sort of scam. Different software could cause the scareware to appear in your browsers or another related Microsoft Tech Support scam. Such websites usually come with third-party installations and freeware packages. These packages tend to have extra features selected for installation from the get-go. To avoid installing any additional features could be done if you find an Advanced or a Custom settings menu.
WannaCry Detected Scam – In Depth
WannaCry Detected is one of a few messages related to a tech support scam. The scam is generally the same, but has multiple domains involved with different phone numbers. The domain which is currently spreading a lot is systembootupdatexxxvirusfound.info and the full message displayed inside its landing page is CRITICAL ALERT FROM MICROSOFT :WANNACRY DETECTED! IMMEDIATE SUPPORT REQUIRED.
All of these technical support scams are shown with pop-ups as alerts and are trying to scare you into calling the phone number given on the page. To make it sound more trustworthy, the scammers have put the Microsoft name as the supposed entity which has blocked the page or browser. The phone number used with the systembootupdatexxxvirusfound.info domain is the following:
- 1-844-301-0371
There could be plenty more phone numbers associated with this scam, depending on the URL addresses and landing pages involved. The criminals that are on the other end of the telephone line will try to trick you into believing that they are part of some sort of an official tech support team of Microsoft and say they are employees there without shame, when that is clearly a lie. The most common pop-up page with the message WannaCry Detected looks like this:
The full message reads the following:
CRITICAL ALERT FROM MICROSOFT :WANNACRY DETECTED! IMMEDIATE SUPPORT REQUIRED
Microsoft has detected WANNACRY Virus on your computer and network location.
Recent website visit might be the reason for this.Please call us immediately at the toll-free number listed so that our engineers can walk you through the removal process of WANNACRY over the phone. Call us immediately on our Toll Free +1-844-301-0371 for Technical Assistance.
***********************************
Toll Free +1-844-301-0371
***********************************
Please do not use any internet based services to avoid any identity thefts.
PLEASE DO NOT SHUT DOWN OR RESTART YOUR COMPUTER AS WANNACRY IS EFFECTING INTERNET USERS GLOBALLY. RESTARTING THE COMPUTER OR IGNORING THE MESSAGE WILL MEAN THAT WANNACRY WILL START SENDING YOUR PERSONAL INFORMAITON TO WANNACRY SERVER IN NORTH KOREA. PLEASE CALL MICROSOFT SUPPORT TO FIX
In case you see any such messages, know that you aren’t on the official Microsoft website main page. Also, no matter how many pop-ups, alerts and message boxes are displayed, remember that this is just scareware that is trying to trick you into calling the 1-844-301-0371 phone number that goes along with the corresponding message. Other domains than systembootupdatexxxvirusfound.info are involved with this scam, and you should pay more attention to the URLs and messages you see as signs of being on such a scam page.
Your browser or computer screen can become locked and may seem like your whole screen is blocked and totally inaccessible. In such a situation, you could try clicking the “Windows” button and combinations such as “Ctrl+Alt+Del” or even the “Close” button to check if you still can interact with your computer system.
The scammers want to make you believe that the only way to fix your computer device is by calling one of the phone numbers, provided on your screen. They also will blatantly lie to you that they are an expert team of technicians and as already mentioned above, in most cases pretend to be Microsoft employees. Not even a small fraction of that is true. Also, note that most of the time the person on the other line has an Indian accent or is from India – that is not racist or discriminatory in this case, but the sad truth. The whole scam is made in a way to convince you into calling the provided telephone numbers, based mainly on scareware tactics.
Do NOT call any of the phone numbers in any circumstance. It is not toll free as presented on the websites, and even the shortest of calls could cost you next to a small fortune. Furthermore, while the con artists can present themselves as Microsoft employees or similar experts or even partners, they will try to acquire personal information and financial data from you. That information can be sold, and you could get into more problems, such as identity theft, your bank accounts getting emptied etc.
Remove WannaCry Detected Scam
To remove the WannaCry Detected tech support scam and its related files manually from your PC, follow the step-by-step removal instructions provided below. If the manual removal guide does not get rid of the scam and its redirects completely, you should search for and remove any leftover items with an advanced anti-malware tool. Software like that will keep your system secure in the future.
- Guide 1: How to Remove WannaCry Detected from Windows.
- Guide 2: Get rid of WannaCry Detected from Mac OS X.
- Guide 3: Remove WannaCry Detected from Google Chrome.
- Guide 4: Erase WannaCry Detected from Mozilla Firefox.
- Guide 5: Uninstall WannaCry Detected from Microsoft Edge.
- Guide 6: Remove WannaCry Detected from Safari.
- Guide 7: Eliminate WannaCry Detected from Internet Explorer.
Windows Mac OS X Google Chrome Mozilla Firefox Microsoft Edge Safari Internet Explorer
How to Remove WannaCry Detected from Windows.
Step 1: Boot Your PC In Safe Mode to isolate and remove WannaCry Detected
Step 2: Uninstall WannaCry Detected and related software from Windows
Here is a method in few easy steps that should be able to uninstall most programs. No matter if you are using Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista or XP, those steps will get the job done. Dragging the program or its folder to the recycle bin can be a very bad decision. If you do that, bits and pieces of the program are left behind, and that can lead to unstable work of your PC, errors with the file type associations and other unpleasant activities. The proper way to get a program off your computer is to Uninstall it. To do that:
Follow the instructions above and you will successfully uninstall most programs.
Step 3: Clean any registries, created by WannaCry Detected on your computer.
The usually targeted registries of Windows machines are the following:
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
- HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce
- HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce
You can access them by opening the Windows registry editor and deleting any values, created by WannaCry Detected there. This can happen by following the steps underneath:
Tip: To find a virus-created value, you can right-click on it and click "Modify" to see which file it is set to run. If this is the virus file location, remove the value.
Before starting "Step 4", please boot back into Normal mode, in case you are currently in Safe Mode.
This will enable you to install and use SpyHunter 5 successfully.
Windows Mac OS X Google Chrome Mozilla Firefox Microsoft Edge Safari Internet Explorer
Get rid of WannaCry Detected from Mac OS X.
Step 1: Uninstall WannaCry Detected and remove related files and objects
1. Hit the ⇧+⌘+U keys to open Utilities. Another way is to click on “Go” and then click “Utilities”, like the image below shows:
- 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 WannaCry Detected 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:
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 2: Scan for and remove malware from your Mac
When you are facing problems on your Mac as a result of unwanted scripts, programs and malware, the recommended way of eliminating the threat is by using an anti-malware program. Combo Cleaner offers advanced security features along with other modules that will improve your Mac’s security and protect it in the future.
Windows Mac OS X Google Chrome Mozilla Firefox Microsoft Edge Safari Internet Explorer
Remove WannaCry Detected from Google Chrome.
Step 1: Start Google Chrome and open the drop menu
Step 2: Move the cursor over "Tools" and then from the extended menu choose "Extensions"
Step 3: From the opened "Extensions" menu locate the unwanted extension and click on its "Remove" button.
Step 4: After the extension is removed, restart Google Chrome by closing it from the red "X" button at the top right corner and start it again.
Windows Mac OS X Google Chrome Mozilla Firefox Microsoft Edge Safari Internet Explorer
Erase WannaCry Detected from Mozilla Firefox.
Step 1: Start Mozilla Firefox. Open the menu window
Step 2: Select the "Add-ons" icon from the menu.
Step 3: Select the unwanted extension and click "Remove"
Step 4: After the extension is removed, restart Mozilla Firefox by closing it from the red "X" button at the top right corner and start it again.
Windows Mac OS X Google Chrome Mozilla Firefox Microsoft Edge Safari Internet Explorer
Uninstall WannaCry Detected from Microsoft Edge.
Step 1: Start Edge browser.
Step 2: Open the drop menu by clicking on the icon at the top right corner.
Step 3: From the drop menu select "Extensions".
Step 4: Choose the suspected malicious extension you want to remove and then click on the gear icon.
Step 5: Remove the malicious extension by scrolling down and then clicking on Uninstall.
Windows Mac OS X Google Chrome Mozilla Firefox Microsoft Edge Safari Internet Explorer
Remove WannaCry Detected from Safari.
Step 1: Start the Safari app.
Step 2: After hovering your mouse cursor to the top of the screen, click on the Safari text to open its drop down menu.
Step 3: From the menu, click on "Preferences".
Step 4: After that, select the 'Extensions' Tab.
Step 5: Click once on the extension you want to remove.
Step 6: Click 'Uninstall'.
A pop-up window will appear asking for confirmation to uninstall the extension. Select 'Uninstall' again, and the WannaCry Detected will be removed.
Windows Mac OS X Google Chrome Mozilla Firefox Microsoft Edge Safari Internet Explorer
Eliminate WannaCry Detected from Internet Explorer.
Step 1: Start Internet Explorer.
Step 2: Click on the gear icon labeled 'Tools' to open the drop menu and select 'Manage Add-ons'
Step 3: In the 'Manage Add-ons' window.
Step 4: Select the extension you want to remove and then click 'Disable'. A pop-up window will appear to inform you that you are about to disable the selected extension, and some more add-ons might be disabled as well. Leave all the boxes checked, and click 'Disable'.
Step 5: After the unwanted extension has been removed, restart Internet Explorer by closing it from the red 'X' button located at the top right corner and start it again.
