Path: ...!eternal-september.org!feeder2.eternal-september.org!news.eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: Zaidy036 Newsgroups: misc.phone.mobile.iphone Subject: Re: Alterna VPN, $10/week? Date: Tue, 19 Nov 2024 13:44:59 -0500 Organization: A noiseless patient Spider Lines: 75 Message-ID: References: Reply-To: Zaidy036@air.isp.spam MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Injection-Date: Tue, 19 Nov 2024 19:45:00 +0100 (CET) Injection-Info: dont-email.me; posting-host="1847fed446d19a61b656267d7812cd6f"; logging-data="1795281"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org"; posting-account="U2FsdGVkX1/MtISSlE8pwikF0HmmC76ro1Q+VTrtXQM=" User-Agent: Mozilla Thunderbird Cancel-Lock: sha1:onWiAfWvZ62mXGEP3pjqF7lnLMc= In-Reply-To: Content-Language: en-US Bytes: 4760 On 11/19/2024 1:25 PM, Chris wrote: > micky wrote: >> Alterna VPN, $10/week? >> >> Is that really what it charges? A friend told me that. >> >> The whole story is she got some sort of message on her iphone that she'd >> been hacked, and it encouraged her to install something to prevent harm. >> It might specifically have pointed to Alterna, not sure. >> >> So she installed Alterna VPN and even though she thinks she already has >> a virus checker, it said it found 17 viruses. 17!! Hard to believe. >> And how dangerous would that be? What do typical iphone viruses do? >> Anything terrible?** >> >> Should she be able to find a list of the 17 viruses it removed? In the >> app? On the phone? Knowing what they weere seems worthwhile to me. >> >> After that, she saw it was going to cost $10/week to keep the app. >> That's a lottt of money. But she could find nothing in the app to >> cancel. Is that normal for iphone subscriptions? Together I found >> where she could go to Settings or on the web, account.apple.com. She >> had trouble logging in to account.apple.com, and then once in, coudln't >> find subsciptions. I don't have an iphone so I can't omcpare my >> experience, but is this this strange that she coudln't find >> Subscriptions there. Even if cancellation must be through one of >> those two methods, shouldnt' there be a noticeable sentece in the app >> saying, To cancel, got to Settings" or is everyone supposed to know that >> by now? >> She did find Subscriptions in the Settings and cancelled and it was >> only in the free trial stage, and it said it was now expriring 2 days >> from now. All is good. > > I agree that removing subscriptions could be easier. > >> But I wonder about that first message. Does apple or something really >> send messages that one has been hacked and suggestions to install a >> particular app or kind of app? > > Nope. > >> And how could she have 17 viruses if she's running an AV program, >> probably the one recommended early on. >> >> She's about 75, still afraid to do anything on the phone now. Earlier >> she was unwilling to use her MAC because it wasnt' recently updated. >> PC's get software updates too, but aiui they are either for new >> features, or to close vulnerabilities. Onne can still use them without >> the updates and it won't make infection more likely, right? > > Wrong. Updates are there to secure the device/computer from vulnerabilities > as well as adding new features. Not updating is a Bad Idea™ > > Also >> unwilling to use her husband's PC because of this, I guess for fear the >> creepy crawlies that are part of her aura now will harm his PC. >> >> >> **I'm not sure if she uses her phone for banking or credit cards, but >> assume someone does, but they never save their password, not even in a >> password encrypition app. Still when you type in the password, it's in >> memory for at last a while, until it's overlaid. Are there any viruses >> that can find a password there, even though you only entered it, didnt' >> save it. > > I'm afraid all you've described above is scam101. Hopefully it was just an > attempt to get her to buy an extortionist service. > > A VPN has nothing to do with viruses and the message either came from > elsewhere or was simply a further inducement to keep the app. iphone > viruses are extremely rare. iOS doesn't normally need an antivirus as all > apps are installed from the app store which has lots of security controls > to remove malware long before anything gets installed. > If paid by credit card cancel with the card.