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ALERT: VIRUS HERE

Posted: 08:12PM Feb 11, 2024
Googaholic*
Posts: 16

On your site it invited to take an IQ Test. HOWEVER, opening that made Android alert that a hack had been made. And spam started repeatedly popping up. Closing the spam, new ones repeatedly popped up within seconds.

Rebooting the Android, spam continued popping up and Android warned that there was a virus.

That's a crime.
Posted: 05:03PM Feb 12, 2024
Avatar for Radioguy RadioguyAusmod
Posts: 3589

Sounds like a malicious ad posing as a IQ test got through. You might want to clear your browsing data and check to make sure nothing weird got installed.

Sorry to hear about that happening to you, it's getting near impossible to stop malicious ads from appearing anywhere. My parents got tricked by similar ones and I found them on YouTube of all places.

To clarify, the "virus" (if one exists) did not originate on this website, it came from whatever ad server was hosted. If you see such an ad again, please report it. If you are getting popups telling you to call a support number, do not call it. It's an unfortunately very common scam.


---This message was edited on 05:06PM Feb 12, 2024---

I will now resume lurking silently.
Posted: 05:46PM Feb 12, 2024
Avatar for Jake JakeAusmod
Posts: 3456

What Radioguy said is correct. There is no virus on Braingle or being hosted by Braingle. What you must have done is clicked on an advertisement that took you to another site that had a bunch of popup ads. Unfortunately, this is very common and hard to get rid of. Ads are a necessary evil to keep sites like this operating. I already do as much as a I can to limit it from happening. I'll look into it and try to find this particular ad and block it.

Also, Id like to plug the Braingle subscriptions. If you want to support our website directly and also remove all the ads, you can do that.
https://www.braingle.com/support.php


Have you visited Braingle lately?
Posted: 06:11PM Feb 12, 2024
Avatar for Radioguy RadioguyAusmod
Posts: 3589

I performed a variety of checks on the ads that appear on Braingle, including testing a few I found potentially suspicious within a Linux VM. During the time I performed this testing, I did not see a malicious ad like the one described originally.

It is possible that tracking cookies from other sites influenced the ad targeting settings, increasing the likelihood that a malicious ad could appear.

I will check this again a few more times later.

(I'm sending this post from my Linux VM, if anyone was curious)


I will now resume lurking silently.
Posted: 09:10PM Feb 12, 2024
Googaholic*
Posts: 16

Something that might help you track down what this could be, with the pop-ups I was getting repeatedly I saw it saying "Brainable". And I now see that site appears in my browser history. So the IQ test ad from your site took me to that site, that's where the trouble came from.
Posted: 02:47PM Feb 13, 2024
Avatar for Radioguy RadioguyAusmod
Posts: 3589

I got the same ad and checked it inside the Linux VM. The IQ test was legitimate, but I stopped short of entering any personal information (I didn't care about my score). It's possible you may have found a malicious ad while in the Brainable website, or picked up adware somewhere else that only started running just now. I'd recommend making sure you haven't downloaded any suspicious apps recently, and clear your browsing data to remove any trackers.

I will now resume lurking silently.
Posted: 01:09PM Feb 14, 2024
Googaholic*
Posts: 16

I didn't answer the questions or anything like that, didn't even see their site. As soon as I pressed the iq test icon on your site, android alerted me that a hack had occurred (first time I've ever experienced that). And right away I started getting the Brainable popups. Rebooting, those pop-ups came back right away. And after rebooting, android warned about a virus.

It could've maybe been android mistakenly thinking their cookie or cache was a hack or virus. Although still getting their popups repeatedly even after rebooting is suspicious. Android prompted me to delete something, after that the popups stopped. I don't know if it's the same worldwide, but in my country they have to actively get our consent for cookies. They didn't ask for that consent though.
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