How To Remove Social Network Hacks Scam Virus

Tips To Delete Social Network Hacks Scam Adware

Social Network Hacks Scam is a social engineering fraud that is presented as resources for hacking social media/networking and service accounts. The “hacking tools” can allegedly hijack WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Netflix and Snapchat accounts. The resources have been noticed being promoted through infected official sites, where they were disguised as hacking articles. Another method was the insertion of same scam articles into the topmost Google search engine results when a directly similar related query was searched. These illusive articles redirected to multiple infectious web domains where malware is promoted under the guise of “hacking tools”, personal and financial information is requests or users’ trust is abused.

More About Social Network Hacks Scam:

People often visit sites that are related to Social Network Hacks Scam by intrusive ads or potentially unwanted application that are already installed on their device. The articles associated with this scheme were posted without authorization on official websites belonging to governmental entities, genuine organizations and educational institutions. At the time of research, the official UNESCO, Arizona State University, Maryland University, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health (NIH), Rutgers University, University of Iowa, Rochester Institute of Technology, University of Michigan and University of Washington websites were exploited, as well as government sites of Colorado, Minnesota and San Diego.

The “hacking resources” were posted as PDF/articles on the compromised sites or injected into the Google search results. Generally, the article contains links to “hacking” sites which take people to deceptive or malicious web portals. From there, you might be redirected through the “hacking” steps or presented with online tools, supposedly capable of allowing access to specific accounts. After following the instructions and the provided tools being employed, people are taken to another scamming site or asked to install a file to complete the “hacking” process. The adverted files usually contain malware like trojan or ransomware.

As we have already mentioned, you are often get redirected to sites that promote Social Network Hacks Scam by PUP which silently enters your computer and then starts performing evil activates in the background. This perilous adware displays annoying ads and pop-ups on your system screen and also makes unexpected changes in default browser’s settings. It forces users to surf through a customized search engine which only delivers inorganic results mixed with commercial contents and sponsored links. It takes users to phishing, scamming or even malware-laden sites and drop other online infections in the machine. And hence, you must perform a quick Social Network Hacks Scam virus removal from the work-station.

Threat Details

Name: Social Network Hacks Scam

Type: Adware, Potentially unwanted program

Symptoms: Fake pop-up messages, Endless annoying ads, Users are enforced to visit hijacker’s website and search the Internet using their search engines, slowness of infected system’s performance.

Short Description: Claims to provide hacking tools for accounts of various platforms, Redirects users to affiliated sites, promotes sponsored products, services and programs and make online revenues for the creators, Also steals users’ personal and confidential information and share them with hackers for evil purposes.

Related Domains:        instagramhackonline.com, iget4free.com, bestgames.pw, hackfbpass.com, securityhack.net

Distribution methods: Free software installers (bundling), Deceptive emails, malicious pop-ups ads, fake flash player installers.

Damage: Web browsing tracking (potential privacy issues), exhibition of unwanted ads, redirects to shady websites.

Removal: To get rid of this infection and other malware threats, our security researchers recommend scanning your device with an effective anti-malware tool.

How Does This Threat Enter Your System?

Potentially unwanted programs are mostly spread through download and installation of freeware. This process is called “bundling” in which PUPs are added with regular software. It generally occurs while installing the application carelessly e.g. ignoring terms, skipping steps and sections using “Quick” or “Recommended” mode set and so on. Apart from this, intrusive ads can be also responsible for the intrusion of adware as they execute scripts to download and install the unwanted program.

Tips To Prevent Adware Intrusion:

To avoid unwanted installations, you should research software before downloading or installing them. Use only reliable or official channels to download the program and always select Custom/Advanced configuration settings to install it. This wizard gives you full control over the incoming objects and allows you to deselect the components that give a concerning look. Avoid clicking on suspicious ads as they might take you to infectious sites filled with PUPs or may directly download/install the adware. But at the moment, you must remove Social Network Hacks Scam virus from the PC without wasting any time.

Antimalware Details And User Guide

Click Here For Windows Click Here For Mac

Important Note: This malware asks you to enable the web browser notifications. So, before you go the manual removal process, execute these steps.

Google Chrome (PC)

• Go to right upper corner of the screen and click on three dots to open the Menu button
• Select “Settings”. Scroll the mouse downward to choose “Advanced” option
• Go to “Privacy and Security” section by scrolling downward and then select “Content settings” and then “Notification” option
• Find each suspicious URLs and click on three dots on the right side and choose “Block” or “Remove” option

Google Chrome (Android)

• Go to right upper corner of the screen and click on three dots to open the menu button and then click on “Settings”
• Scroll down further to click on “site settings” and then press on “notifications” option
• In the newly opened window, choose each suspicious URLs one by one
• In the permission section, select “notification” and “Off” the toggle button

Mozilla Firefox

• On the right corner of the screen, you will notice three dots which is the “Menu” button
• Select “Options” and choose “Privacy and Security” in the toolbar present in the left side of the screen
• Slowly scroll down and go to “Permission” section then choose “Settings” option next to “Notifications”
• In the newly opened window, select all the suspicious URLs. Click on the drop-down menu and select “Block”

Internet Explorer

• In the Internet Explorer window, select the Gear button present on the right corner
• Choose “Internet Options”
• Select “Privacy” tab and then “Settings” under the “Pop-up Blocker” section
• Select all the suspicious URLs one by one and click on the “Remove” option

Microsoft Edge

• Open the Microsoft Edge and click on the three dots on the right corner of the screen to open the menu
• Scroll down and select “Settings”
• Scroll down further to choose “view advanced settings”
• In the “Website Permission” option, click on “Manage” option
• Click on switch under every suspicious URL

Safari (Mac):

• On the upper right side corner, click on “Safari” and then select “Preferences”
• Go to “website” tab and then choose “Notification” section on the left pane
• Search for the suspicious URLs and choose “Deny” option for each one of them

Manual Steps to Remove Social Network Hacks Scam:

Remove the related items of Social Network Hacks Scam using Control-Panel

Windows 7 Users

Click “Start” (the windows logo at the bottom left corner of the desktop screen), select “Control Panel”. Locate the “Programs” and then followed by clicking on “Uninstall Program”

Windows XP Users

Click “Start” and then choose “Settings” and then click “Control Panel”. Search and click on “Add or Remove Program’ option

Windows 10 and 8 Users:

Go to the lower left corner of the screen and right-click. In the “Quick Access” menu, choose “Control Panel”. In the newly opened window, choose “Program and Features”

Mac OSX Users

Click on “Finder” option. Choose “Application” in the newly opened screen. In the “Application” folder, drag the app to “Trash”. Right click on the Trash icon and then click on “Empty Trash”.

In the uninstall programs window, search for the PUAs. Choose all the unwanted and suspicious entries and click on “Uninstall” or “Remove”.

After you uninstall all the potentially unwanted program causing Social Network Hacks Scam issues, scan your computer with an anti-malware tool for any remaining PUPs and PUAs or possible malware infection. To scan the PC, use the recommended the anti-malware tool.

How to Remove Adware (Social Network Hacks Scam) from Internet Browsers

Delete malicious add-ons and extensions from IE

Click on the gear icon at the top right corner of Internet Explorer. Select “Manage Add-ons”. Search for any recently installed plug-ins or add-ons and click on “Remove”.

Additional Option

If you still face issues related to Social Network Hacks Scam removal, you can reset the Internet Explorer to its default setting.

Windows XP users: Press on “Start” and click “Run”. In the newly opened window, type “inetcpl.cpl” and click on the “Advanced” tab and then press on “Reset”.

Windows Vista and Windows 7 Users: Press the Windows logo, type inetcpl.cpl in the start search box and press enter.  In the newly opened window, click on the “Advanced Tab” followed by “Reset” button.

For Windows 8 Users: Open IE and click on the “gear” icon. Choose “Internet Options”

Select the “Advanced” tab in the newly opened window

Press on “Reset” option

You have to press on the “Reset” button again to confirm that you really want to reset the IE

Remove Doubtful and Harmful Extension from Google Chrome

Go to menu of Google Chrome by pressing on three vertical dots and select on “More tools” and then “Extensions”. You can search for all the recently installed add-ons and remove all of them.

Optional Method

If the problems related to Social Network Hacks Scam still persists or you face any issue in removing, then it is advised that your reset the Google Chrome browse settings. Go to three dotted points at the top right corner and choose “Settings”. Scroll down bottom and click on “Advanced”.

At the bottom, notice the “Reset” option and click on it.

In the next opened window, confirm that you want to reset the Google Chrome settings by click on the “Reset” button.

Remove Social Network Hacks Scam plugins (including all other doubtful plug-ins) from Firefox Mozilla

Open the Firefox menu and select “Add-ons”. Click “Extensions”.  Select all the recently installed browser plug-ins.

Optional Method

If you face problems in Social Network Hacks Scam removal then you have the option to rese the settings of Mozilla Firefox.

Open the browser (Mozilla Firefox) and click on the “menu” and then click on “Help”.

Choose “Troubleshooting Information”

In the newly opened pop-up window, click “Refresh Firefox” button

The next step is to confirm that really want to reset the Mozilla Firefox settings to its default by clicking on “Refresh Firefox” button.

Remove Malicious Extension from Safari

Open the Safari and go to its “Menu” and select “Preferences”.

Click on the “Extension” and select all the recently installed “Extensions” and then click on “Uninstall”.

Optional Method

Open the “Safari” and go menu. In the drop-down menu, choose “Clear History and Website Data”.

In the newly opened window, select “All History” and then press on “Clear History” option.

Delete Social Network Hacks Scam (malicious add-ons) from Microsoft Edge

Open Microsoft Edge and go to three horizontal dot icons at the top right corner of the browser. Select all the recently installed extensions and right click on the mouse to “uninstall”

Optional Method

Open the browser (Microsoft Edge) and select “Settings”

Next steps is to click on “Choose what to clear” button

Click on “show more” and then select everything and then press on “Clear” button.

Conclusion

In most cases, the PUPs and adware gets inside the marked PC through unsafe freeware downloads. It is advised that you should only choose developers website only while downloading any kind of free applications.  Choose custom or advanced installation process so that you can trace the additional PUPs listed for installation along with the main program.