Facebook, Avast,McAfee and Yahos-help please!

[QueenPendragon]

I am moving this here; I realized i may have put it in the wrong place. Would Avast catch a malware called YAHOS? Facebook is saying i have it and wanting me to download McAfee to get rid of it. But my other FB account works fine, so it's confusing. I ran Avast, plus Malwarebytes and Windows Defender and used CCleaner. Can I be relatively sure that it's a false alarm since none of these turned anything up? I emailed Facebook, hoping they get in gear and help.

*facepalm* AVAST not Avira lol

[Pondus]

.....Facebook is saying i have it ......

how can Facebook tell that you have malware   

sounds like a scam to me..

[QueenPendragon]

Yeah, and my other account is fine. I have read about FB security measures, but I still don't get it.

[Pondus]

can you take a screenshot of this message and post it here ?

[QueenPendragon]

[QueenPendragon]

PS I shouldn't think about downloading the McAfee should I?

[Pondus]

nope i think this is a scam.......

unless you can do this on a computer you are not afraid of ?

if it starts downloading a file, you can save it (do not run the file) and then upload it to www.virustotal.com and test it with 43 malware scanners
but if it starts some malware directly......so unless you have a computer you can experiment with ?

[DavidR]

At worst, to me it has scam written all over it, as has been said how would facebook know your system is infected, without a) having downloaded a security element and b) run a scan. I certainly wouldn't be downloading McAfee, if that is what it really is and there is no Opt-Out that I can see.

The series of questions could be trying to get your security information out of you to take over your account and the various acknowledgement buttons effectively giving permission for it to download stuff and circumvent your security.

At best it would be the most kack handed security warning as this is how most of the fake AV popups/alerts/notices start out.

There is no 'Sod off get lost, I will look after my own security, button' in which you can politely decline their offer to scan your computer, to me that is just plain wrong.

Whilst this is purporting to be an HTTPS, it could still be a phishing site and unless you can actually verify the IP address of the page you are connected to, it is hard to confirm it is what it says it is.

I use firefox and have an add-on called World IP that you can view the actual IP in the status bar at the bottom of the page, this you can do a Whois to confirm the site you are at.

I don't know if there is a similar feature in IE.

[QueenPendragon]

I read Facebook's questions, someone directed me to it over at PC World. It is legit, the Roadblock thingy, but I do think I know what happened. I had my two accounts open in two browsers-I also use Firefox-and FB must have thought it was like something a zombie computer would do or something. I might just have to keep hounding FB until they pony up and release it, or try a new account.

[DavidR]

Or until they can tell you why your account was unavailable due to security reasons and what those reasons were and how it equates to your system being infected.

Though I wouldn't hold your breath whilst waiting for their full and frank answers.

But they really need to rethink their policy/tactics on this as it is a classic scam tactic used by phishing sites and scares the pants of many users.

[QueenPendragon]

Yes, I will keep doing that. And why DID I say 'Avira' instead of 'AVAST' again? The names are too close.

Can I be relatively sure that I'm not infected, since we know Avira is good and so is Malwarebytes, and Defender is at least halfway decent?

[QueenPendragon]

Interesting.

I might try to do it their way on my old laptop, with the dead monitor...never downloaded anything on this PC and don't really wanna. I'd prefer they get in gear and help me, though, 'cause it's annoying. They need a better and more responsive troubleshoot team.

Either way, can I be fairly confident that I'm not really infected? That's my big question.

[QueenPendragon]

OK, I used my old laptop to get my account restored...it doesn't actually try to download the full McAfee security suite, although I still know enough to run a full scan if the time comes I ever have to use the thing again (it needs serious updating anyway, since I haven't used it since March). I'm more sure now that the roadblock is legit, but they seriously do need to rethink their approach.

My last question still stands...can I be reasonably confident my current machine is okay or are there any final steps to take?

[DavidR]

You can be more confident, but nothing is 100%

If you have run avast and MBAM scans, etc. and come up empty then that goes a long way to that 100%.

[QueenPendragon]

I know...pretty much all of life is that way lol

I appreciate the help and thanks much...I'm near paranoid in this area due to issues with my old pc. Glad Places like here and Pcworld exist. (Bleeping computer,my other emergency place,wasn't any help this time)