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I have a fake police site that keeps generating tabs, how can I force the tabs to close

  • 2 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 1 view
  • Last reply by FredMcD

alltabedout
alltabedout
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When I try to close one of these tabs it asks if I want to leave the page, I click leave the page and it generates another tab. They want money from me to sort the problem.

When I try to close one of these tabs it asks if I want to leave the page, I click leave the page and it generates another tab. They want money from me to sort the problem.

All Replies (2)

jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
  • Top 25 Contributor
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I thought this old scam was gone for good after a fix in Firefox some time back, but unfortunately it sounds as though it lives on.

This is an old thread with some suggested approaches to escaping from such pages: WARNING FBI LOCKED BROWSER!!!

It's also possible that this could be caused by something installed on your PC. Bad add-ons and other malware can sneak in with free software installers. Here's my suggested procedure for tracking down and cleaning up bad add-ons. Sorry for the length -- it's not as bad as it sounds:

(1) Open the Windows Control Panel, Uninstall a Program. After the list loads, click the "Installed on" column heading to group the infections, I mean, additions, by date. This can help in smoking out undisclosed bundle items that snuck in with some software you agreed to install. Take out as much trash as possible here.

(2) Open Firefox's Add-ons page using either:

  • Ctrl+Shift+a
  • "3-bar" menu button (or Tools menu) > Add-ons

In the left column, click Plugins. Set nonessential and unrecognized plugins to "Never Activate".

In the left column, click Extensions. Then, if in doubt, disable (or Remove, if possible) unrecognized and unwanted extensions.

Often a link will appear above at least one disabled extension to restart Firefox. You can complete your work on the tab and click one of the links as the last step.

Any improvement?

(3) You can search for remaining issues with the scanning/cleaning tools listed in our support article: Troubleshoot Firefox issues caused by malware. These on-demand scanners are free and take considerable time to run. If they finish quickly and especially if they require payment, you may have a serious infection. I suggest the specialized forums listed in the article in that case.

Success?

FredMcD
FredMcD
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Yea, I had a lot of fun that day . . . . . . . . . NOT !

This add-on can stop such pages; disallow Script Button {web link} The Disallow Script button looks like a letter "M" and the title is the Minus Script, drag and drop the button on a toolbar. If the button is not displayed then nothing operates, except rules for plugins.