Remove “You’ve Made The 5-billionth Search” POP-UP ad

The “You’ve Made The 5-billionth Search” POP-UP ad is classified as a giveaway scam. The scam claims that you are seeing the pop-up because you made the 5-billionth search and are eligible to receive a reward. The scam offers 3 rewards for users to choose from, though no matter which one is chosen, the outcome will be the same. You will be informed that you have won and asked to provide your personal information so the prize can supposedly be shipped to you. This is nothing more than a fake giveaway that intends to steal users’ personal information.

 

 

The “You’ve Made The 5-billionth Search” pop-up scam is a common and deceptive scam that falsely claims users have won prizes simply for making a lucky search. These scams have been around for years, and despite the numerous warnings, many people still fall for them. A simple Google search for “You have won pop-ups” would reveal countless results exposing their malicious nature. These giveaways are not real; they are primarily designed to gather personal information from unsuspecting users.

The main objective of these scams is to collect sensitive user data and, in some cases, to extract money for fake shipping fees associated with the supposed prizes. Such pop-up scams typically appear while users are navigating high-risk/ad-heavy websites, like those with adult content. They may also be triggered by adware. To identify whether the issue lies with the sites you visit or adware affecting your computer, run a scan with WiperSoft, which can remove “You’ve Made The 5-billionth Search” adware easily.

These scams are extremely prevalent, each with slightly different content. This specific scam claims that the user has achieved the milestone of making the “5-billionth search” and follows a familiar Google scam template, varying only by the search milestone it cites. It alleges that Google provides rewards every 5 billion searches and invites users to choose from three hidden prizes, typically expensive tech items like iPhones. As you scroll down, you will see fake testimonials from alleged previous winners who supposedly received these prizes through their lucky searches.

If you interact with the scam, you will likely be prompted to provide personal information such as your full name, address, email, and phone number. Additionally, a small shipping fee may be requested for the prize. Both the information and the shipping fee are the scam’s primary targets. Although the data may seem insignificant, it can be exploited for more advanced scams later on and is often sold on hacker forums.

Lastly, we should stress that all of these giveaways are fake. Companies like Google certainly do not reward users for performing lucky searches, nor do they host any other kind of giveaway.

Why are you being redirected to these scams?

Often, these redirects occur when visiting high-risk websites, particularly those that host adult or pirated content, which tend to spam dubious ads no matter what users click on. To minimize both ads and redirects, installing an ad blocker is recommended.

If you find yourself being redirected even on safe websites, it could indicate an adware infection. While adware is more of a nuisance than a serious threat, it, along with browser hijackers, can be very annoying. Adware typically installs through software bundling. This means they come attached to free programs as optional offers, which are set to install automatically unless users manually opt out. Many users aren’t aware of these offers since they are hidden.

To correctly install free programs and avoid these unwanted offers, select Advanced (Custom) settings. These settings allow you to review and uncheck any additional offers you don’t want. It only takes a few seconds to do this, and it can save you considerable time and effort later by preventing the hassle of removing unwanted infections. Keep in mind that many free programs from unofficial websites often come bundled with these kinds of offers.

“You’ve Made The 5-billionth Search” POP-UP Scam removal

Depending on the reason behind the redirects to sites displaying scams like “You’ve Made The 5-billionth Search”, you might need to run an anti-virus scan of your computer. WiperSoft can detect and remove the adware causing these pop-up scams, preventing future redirects. Adware can be quite stubborn, and manual removal may not always be easy.

If these redirects stem from high-risk websites you’ve been visiting, installing an ad blocker is a good idea. It will either completely block these redirects or at least close the pop-up windows as they appear. Overall, an ad blocker is very useful since it significantly reduces the number of ads you get.