Virus statement, should I be worried?

[Windows Central Question]

virus statement

I was browsing the web and a google play notification popped up with a countdown and it said It had detected a virus that was damaging my battery and I had 5 minutes to download a google play app to wipe it. looked very official and I'm very scared about what might happen to my phone. Microsoft Lumia 640 go phone

 

[thron]

Re: virus statement

Google Play is for Android devices. A pop up that means nothing to you, because you are on a Windows device...

No different than "Virus detected" popups from porn sites that want you to download scareware onto your PC... downloading such to your PC WILL infect you.

Ignore it.

 

[xandros9]

Re: virus statement

What happened to you is the equivalent of me showing up at your house and screaming that you have Ebola and only 10 minutes to live. And that the only cure was to pay me $5000 on the spot.

 

[Zulfigar]

Re: virus statement

What happened to you is the equivalent of me showing up at your house and screaming that you have Ebola and only 10 minutes to live. And that the only cure was to pay me $5000 on the spot.

Wait... THAT WAS A JOKE?! You hit me up with that last week... I want my money back!!! D:

Scare tactics though, that's how scam ads try to infect your device. Ignore it and move on (but I still want my money back <.<).

 

[xandros9]

Re: virus statement

Wait... THAT WAS A JOKE?! You hit me up with that last week... I want my money back!!! D:

Scare tactics though, that's how scam ads try to infect your device. Ignore it and move on (but I still want my money back <.<).

No no no! YOU actually had a very bad strain of Ebola, called EbolAIDS. You lived to see this week right? Your welcome!
That low low donation of $499.99 was worth it hmm?

 

[Chintan Gohel]

Re: virus statement

No no no! YOU actually had a very bad strain of Ebola, called EbolAIDS. You lived to see this week right? Your welcome!
That low low donation of $499.99 was worth it hmm?

seriosuly though, not nice to make jokes about ebola. Very dangerous disease - if you're into reading novels, "try executive orders" from tom Clancy

 

[aybarrap1]

Re: virus statement

LOL... The give away should of most definitely been trying to have you install an android app from google play onto a windows phone. What app did it ask you to install? You can report it to google do that they can do something. Same applies for the Microsoft store. Always report apps which use deceitful ads or scare tactics. Granted another will come along but every bit helps.

 

[Pete]

The chances are that many of these fake pop ups direct users to websites that contain malware or will attempt to redirect the user to a non-official play store and describe how to enable developer mode in order to install a malware app.

In pretty much all cases, a web site will not tell you that your device/computer is at risk of viruses (unless it's a web site specially crafted to do so).

 

[neodk]

I like how on the Edge browser it thinks my 650 is an Android. Every now and then, because I do tend to travel to various parts of the internet for one reason or another, I get some redirect saying there is a virus on my Android device. I gleefully click away because I know my device isn't compromised.

Now my son is using a Moto X as a phone only - data only over WiFi. He was looking up stuff for Minecraft when he was hit with a pop up saying his phone was infected and to call a number. Being the smart lad that he is, he handed the phone over to me and asked me to make sure he was safe. I installed an antivirus, and told him to double check the spelling of searches and URLs before clicking. Luckily the Google account on the phone is monitored through my Google Apps and is a non-administrator account. I can disable the device pretty quickly and kill the user account if I had to. I just don't want to pay for Minecraft again. On the flip side, Google sees a re-registered account on my domain as a new Google account, so I get free trials of applications again.

 

[Jack Neill]

There's another reason to use W10M, the market share is so low that even people that write malware are like " yeah no thanks".

 

[aybarrap1]

There's another reason to use W10M, the market share is so low that even people that write malware are like " yeah no thanks".

This is true. There would be like malware compared to android or apple. While for on this front, it is unfortunate that it is the case. Each version update since windows phone 8.0 has carried great improvements to the windows mobile platform. It is a good OS and improving and would like MS to bring it fully on par with the like of android and iOS. It is close and now it is just a matter of getting developers on board.