Help · Fake verification pages
Real checks never ask you to paste and press Enter.
A page says you need to prove you’re human, then gives you a few keys to press. It’s a trick to get you to run a program yourself.
Seeing one now?
Close the page. Don’t press the keys it shows you.
Nothing bad happens if you just leave. You don’t need to verify anything.
A familiar checkbox with an unusual next step
You’re looking for something, a file, a video, a document someone sent you, and a page asks you to confirm you’re not a robot. It looks just like the checks you see every day. When you click, it quietly copies a command. Then it shows instructions like these:
Following them opens a box that runs commands, pastes in what the page copied, and runs it. The command downloads a program that usually steals saved passwords and logged in sessions. Security researchers call this ClickFix.
Variations say there’s a “display error” to fix, or that you need to update your browser or a font. The ask is always the same: open something, paste, press Enter.
No website needs you to open the Run box, Terminal or PowerShell to prove anything. If a page gives you keyboard shortcuts and tells you to paste, close it.
Don’t panic, act quickly
- Disconnect from the internet. Turn off Wi‑Fi or unplug the cable.
- Don’t sign in to anything on that computer for now. What these commands install is usually built to steal passwords and logged in sessions.
- Change your passwords from another device. Use your phone or a different computer. Start with your email, then your bank, then the rest. Turn on two step sign in where you can.
- Get the computer checked. Run the security scan that came with your computer, and ask someone you trust or a local repair shop to look it over.
- Watch your accounts. Look out for sign in alerts, password reset emails and payments you don’t recognize over the next few weeks.
If you lost money or think an account was taken over, the reporting links on the remote access scams page apply here too.
It notices the copied command
In Chrome, Fompi warns you on the page when it copies a command and asks you to run it, and offers to clear what it put on your clipboard. On your computer, it notices a risky command the moment it lands on your clipboard and tells you in plain words what it would do. You can always continue if you meant to.