Chrome 'Giveaway' pop-ups Samsung Mobile

[Justsaying]

Today, whenever I visit the Chrome browser on my Samsung mobile, a scamming/phishing 'Giveaway' pop-up appears (similar to the pic attached). Strangely, I have not downloaded any apps recently that could have introduced this addon/malware so I'm unsure how it got there. Since this appeared, I have purchased a yearly subscription to the Malwarebytes for Mobile (I already have it on my laptop) but it finds no issues in a scan. I have cleared all browsing history in Chrome, restarted my mobile etc. but the popups still appear.  Is this kind of malicious addon something Malwarebytes would not detect? Any advice on ridding myself of this stuff (apart from resetting my phone to factory defaults!) would be much appreciated.

[Sirlansalittle]

I'm getting the same as well my partner is also getting them today. We both have samsung phones. 

Let me know if you work out what is causing them. I have a feeling there's about to be a massive spurt of these as we are very careful with security and what sites we go on. 

[Sirlansalittle]

I've run malwarebytes and it didn't detect anything. 

[Witch]

I just signed up to give you a heads up on what I've uncovered. I'm also getting the issue on iOS Chrome and Safari. I was browsing the Guardian newspaper's website (reputable, not at all likely to be a cause for issue) and as soon as I scrolled down to an AdChoices ad that auto-displayed I got the popup which auto redirected to the site in question.

It appears to me that YET again, malvertising (malicious ads) have penetrated Google's system and have poisoned every website they touch (attacking customers at random). Basically the ads have some dodgy scripting inside that pushes that alert on you and redirects you away to their fake page hoping you'll get scammed out of cash.

This is why advertising is such a terrible way for sites to make money, especially when they outsource the responsibility for who serves the ads to third parties who don't properly sanitize them for dangerous scripts like browser hijacking.

[Justsaying]

Yes, I suspect that you are right, as I simply don't visit any sites that could be considered disreputable.... but some do contain ads which 'auto-load. Question now is how to remove it. 

[mbam_mtbr]

Hi @Justsaying, @Sirlansalittle, @Witch,

Yep, certainly sounds like browser related ads to me as well. This is caused by the way most browsers handle redirections executed by javascript code.  Most browsers don't do a great job of preventing these redirects, which also cause ad pop-ups.  Advertising affiliates are aware of this, and exploit this weakness.  Even if an advertising affiliate is shut down for using this exploit, they just come back with a different affiliate id and are right back at it.

The best way to block these pop-ups are to try a different browsers, disable javascript, install a browser with ad blocking (like Opera), and/or install Ad-block Plus.
If you encounter these pop-ups again, back out of them using Android's back key. Also, clearing your history and cache will help stop the ads from reoccurring.

Nathan
 

[Justsaying]

35 minutes ago, mbam_mtbr said:

Hi @Justsaying, @Sirlansalittle, @Witch,

Yep, certainly sounds like browser related ads to me as well. This is caused by the way most browsers handle redirections executed by javascript code.  Most browsers don't do a great job of preventing these redirects, which also cause ad pop-ups.  Advertising affiliates are aware of this, and exploit this weakness.  Even if an advertising affiliate is shut down for using this exploit, they just come back with a different affiliate id and are right back at it.

The best way to block these pop-ups are to try a different browsers, disable javascript, install a browser with ad blocking (like Opera), and/or install Ad-block Plus.
If you encounter these pop-ups again, back out of them using Android's back key. Also, clearing your history and cache will help stop the ads from reoccurring.

Nathan
 

Thanks for replying Nathan. I've dumped Google Chrome (pity it can't be deleted) and switched to Opera which does not, as yet, seem to be impacted. I tried clearing history & cache to no avail. Backing out of pop-ups didn't work at all; I was simply directed to another pop-up (I've had spoof Google Prizes, YouTube prizes any many more 🙂 ). It's a great pity that major internet suppliers seem to have no recognition of the need to provide a safe, phishing free, environment if they want people to use their services. I'm quite happy to accept non-intrusive advertising but not services which are so open to these exploits. Again, many thanks for your reply.

[Sirlansalittle]

I've managed to crack it I think. I went into Google settings and disabled all notifications and pop ups. Touch wood it seems to have fixed it. Not had one since. Neither had my partner. 

[Sirlansalittle]

I think it might be the one in site settings that's fixed it. 

[Justsaying]

22 minutes ago, Sirlansalittle said:

I think it might be the one in site settings that's fixed it. 

Thanks  Sirlansalittle,  In the Chrome Browser, I've turned off Javascript (may restrict some genuine pages though [including this one]), Blocked pop-ups and re-directs and only allowed a few notifications that I prefer to keep. It does seem to be working OK currently, so fingers crossed, your solution works. In the meantime however I've now switched again.... to the Samsung Browser (with ad-blocker included) and Javascript disabled. Seems decent for my needs. Cheers

[Sirlansalittle]

Thanks for the update. I would drop chrome but everything I log into is based on the system so I can't be bothered to have two separate password management programs. 

[bikram]

I also have the same problem I will disable all notifications and pop-ups. I hope it's going to work.

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