Update Google Chrome Scam: How It Works
What browser do you have installed on your computer? Chrome, Safari, Mozilla, or even Internet Explorer? Maybe any other one? Beware of the latest scam involving Chrome, although it is a straightforward trick that could easily lure you into compromising your device by using the other ones, as well. Let’s take a look at how it works and how you can avoid it.
Imagine this scenario: You’re navigating the Internet using your Chrome browser. As you’re reading the latest news on your favorite site, all of a sudden, a somehow urgent message pops up warning that you are using an older version of Chrome. Did you ever get that?
Here is a screenshot of the bogus notification:
Under the ‘old version’ notification message, there is also a convenient green button (or red, sometimes) labeled – you guessed it – “Update Chrome.” As you can assume, hopefully, clicking that button won’t update your Chrome browser at all. Instead, it will infect your machine with one or more dangerous viruses. It happens all the time these days, so beware.
Just a note that the scam is not pulled by the official Chrome extension – as many users may wrongly think – but by random cybercrooks trying to get into your device.
There’s a screenshot above featuring the most current version of the fake Chrome update notice. If you see a pop-up similar to this pop-up on your computer, don’t click it. It could show on your mobile screen, too.
Please close your browser immediately, reopen it, and then clear Chrome’s browser cache. If you don’t know how to do it, don’t worry – there is how below.
Fake Google Chrome Update: How To Avoid
As a rule of thumb, you should regularly check to make sure you have the latest updates installed, whether about Chrome or any other extension. How to?
You can do that easily from Chrome’s “Customize and Control” menu. Here are the steps you need to take:
- Launch your Chrome browser.
- Select the Customize and Control icon in the upper-right corner of the browser window, usually three vertical dots.
- Choose Help, then select About Google Chrome.
At this point, your Chrome browser will check to see if there are any uninstalled updates available. If that’s the case, they will be installed automatically.
If it makes it easier, watch the clip below to see how to update your Google Chrome:
Google Chrome Scam: How To Report
Warn your family and friends about the fake Google Chrome Update by sharing it on social media using the buttons provided. You can also officially report the scammers to the Federal Trade Commission using the link below:
How To Prevent Identity Theft and More
If you want to be the first to find out the most notorious scams periodically, feel free to subscribe to the Scam Detector newsletter here. You’ll receive weekly emails – we promise not to spam.
Meanwhile, educate yourself with some other fraud-related articles featured right under this paragraph, so that you can protect yourself in many other aspects and niches. Last but not least, use the comments section below to expose other online scammers.
Here are some must-reads for the end:
Government Surplus Auctions Scam
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Chrome was slow to respond still haven’t and why if you try to investigate does it say web site not available surely if a layman like me is suspicious they should be!? https://appcleanup.club/landers/d2e2513af1/Eng/index.html#
Why was it allowed in the first place?