"Congratulations, Chrome user!" Pop-ups - How to remove

There are malicious websites, like Grandprizefx.com, spreading fake loyalty program pop-ups. These pop-ups start with “Congratulations, [browser] user!” and tell you to spin a wheel for a prize – a Macbook, an iPad, a cash prize, etc. “Congratulations, Chrome user!” is meant to get your personal information and trick you into sending over money. Close the page early and you’ll be fine. But if you let it go too far, your personal information could make its way into the hands of criminals.

In short about “Congratulations, Chrome user!”:

Type of threat	Scam, adware.
Dangers of the scam	Leaked personal information, being tricked to sign up for paid services, lost money (up to around $90 a month).
Where “Congratulations, Chrome user!” shows up	Shown by an adware virus, appears on infected websites, received in email and social media messages.
Stop “Congratulations, Chrome user!” pop-ups	Block unwanted URLs with an antivirus program, remove adware from your computer (Combo Cleaner for Mac OS, Spyhunter for Windows, Malwarebytes, etc.), uninstall unnecessary browser extensions and clear browser data.

Where to find “Congratulations, Chrome user!”

Spam and hijacked websites

The “Congratulations, Chrome user!” scam is hosted on more than one website, so it can’t be blocked that easily. Also, it spreads in more than one way:

• arrives as an email or a social media message,
• appears on infected websites (site owners may not know about this),
• appears on old websites that have been abandoned and bought by a fraudster (for example, old source links),
• is advertised on not-completely-legal sites, like free streaming websites.

Spam emails should be sent straight to spam, but the filters aren’t perfect, so it’s good to stay vigilant. If you see a phrase similar to “Congratulations, Chrome user!” or “You won a gift” even though you did not participate in any competitions, you may as well not even open the letter – just mark it as spam.

As for infected sites, these are usually small or medium-sized websites. If you consistently see “Congratulations, Chrome user!” on a particular website, you may want to contact the administrators so that they can look into this. They might need to ban a few ads or remove an infection from their code.

The worst with redirects to scams are old sites that have been abandoned. Malicious actors can buy URLs that used to be popular and put links to “Congratulations, Chrome user!” on them. For example, links in the sources of old articles and videos could be compromised like this.

It’s possible that an adware virus on your device shows the “Congratulations, Chrome user!” scam, but it’s also possible that your phone/computer is completely clean and you just happened to visit an infected website.

How “Congratulations, Chrome user!” greets you

When you get there, the “Congratulations, Chrome user!” site shows a greeting similar to this:

Congratulations, [browser] user!

You are one of the 7 people selected to participate in our loyalty program! You can get 1 gift out of 4!

Click “OK” to start!

Google Chrome is the most popular web browser, so that’s what I’ve focused on in this article. But the fake loyalty program targets other browsers, too, and shows appropriate text:

• “Congratulations, Chrome user!”
• “Congratulations, Safari user!”
• “Congratulations, Firefox user!”
• “Congratulations, Microsoft Edge user!”

Whatever browser you’re using, whatever computer or phone you’re on, and even your location are all data that the “Congratulations, Chrome user!” site can get really easily, any website can, so don’t let that intimidate you. Don’t be distracted by the fake comments, either – it’s very easy for a developer to make them took new and dynamic.

Next, “Congratulations, Chrome user!” says:

Congratulations!

Today you are lucky!

Every [weekday] we select 7 [browser] users to receive prizes from our sponsors. Turn the wheel to see which prize you can claim!

After you click the “OK” button, “Congratulations, Chrome user!” spins a prize wheel for you. You fail and then it gives you another try. Then you win. I won a $1000 check every time I tried, but the details may change with other versions of “Congratulations, Chrome user!”. “You have been randomly selected” is pretty similar, as is Google Rewards Centre, “Dear Facebook user”, “1 TRILLION Google searches”, and a ton of other scams.

What’s the point?

The reason why “Congratulations, Chrome user!” exists is that it makes money for the people behind it.

After you “get” your prize, “Congratulations, Chrome user!” asks you to fill out a form with your name, address, credit card information… Plus, you might be asked to send over a token payment to “confirm your identity” or something. You might also be asked to pay for shipping, taxes, and other fees. Remember that the prize you supposedly won doesn’t exist and won’t be shipped to anyone.

In addition or instead of that, “Congratulations, Chrome user!” might get you to sign up for a subscription, usually of a really bad and really expensive media renting service – like Geeker.com or Stream2watch, but worse. Some sites sell subscriptions for around $50 or $90 a month to give you access to movies, books, and games from the bottom of a bargain bin, so bad that normal stores don’t even stock them. You get a paid trial period of 2 hours to 3 days. These services might be legal, but with those outrageous prices and terrible content, I consider them scams.

There are other ways for fraudsters to rob people. For example, Amarktflow signs you up for reward programs. And your personal information could be sold, to be used and abused in future scams.

How to deal with “Congratulations, Chrome user!” scam

To stop seeing “Congratulations, Chrome user!” pop-ups, you need to find out why they’re happening.

If it’s an adware virus, then a scan with an antivirus program, like Combo Cleaner for Mac, SpyHunter for PC, Malwarebytes, or another tool might help. You should also review your browser extensions. It might help to clean your browser data, too. I put the instructions below.

To stop future “Congratulations, Chrome user!” pop-ups, you should just follow general online security advice:

• allow your operating system, web browser, and other programs to install new updates,
• use an anti-malware program’s web security to block malicious addresses,
• be careful on shady websites,
• ignore sites that urge you to hurry, put you on a timer, or threaten your safety,
• don’t give your credit card data to websites without looking up the website first.

If you did fill out the forms and give your information away, you need to undo any subscriptions and stop any illegitimate payments form your credit card.

Automatic Malware removal tools

Manually clean your browser

TopHow To remove "Congratulations, Chrome user!" Pop-ups from Google Chrome:

• Click on the 3 horizontal lines icon on a browser toolbar and Select More Tools→Extensions
  
• Select all malicious extensions and delete them.
  
• Click on the 3 horizontal lines icon on a browser toolbar and Select Settings
  
• Select Manage Search engines
  
• Remove unnecessary search engines from the list
  
• Go back to settings. On Startup choose Open blank page (you can remove undesired pages from the set pages link too).
• If your homepage was changed, click on Chrome menu on the top right corner, select Settings. Select Open a specific page or set of pages and click on Set pages.
  
• Delete malicious search websites at a new Startup pages window by clicking “X” next to them.
  

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings

If you are still experiencing any issues related to "Congratulations, Chrome user!" Pop-ups, reset the settings of your browser to its default settings.

• Click on a Chrome’s menu button (three horizontal lines) and select Settings.
• Scroll to the end of the page and click on theReset browser settings button.
  
• Click on the Reset button on the confirmation box.
  

If you cannot reset your browser settings and the problem persists, scan your system with an anti-malware program.

How to remove "Congratulations, Chrome user!" Pop-ups from Safari:Top

Remove malicious extensions

• Click on Safari menu on the top left corner of the screen. Select Preferences.
  
• Select Extensions and uninstall "Congratulations, Chrome user!" Pop-ups and other suspicious extensions.
  
• If your homepage was changed, click on Safari menu on the top left corner of the screen. Select Preferences and choose General tab. Enter preferable URL to the homepage field.
  

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings(older versions) If you are still experiencing any issues related to "Congratulations, Chrome user!" Pop-ups, reset the settings of your browser to its default settings.

• Click on Safari menu on the top left corner of the screen. Select Reset Safari…
  
• Select which options you want to reset (usually all of them come preselected) and click on the Reset button.
  

If you cannot reset your browser settings and the problem persists, scan your system with an anti-malware program.

How to remove "Congratulations, Chrome user!" Pop-ups from Microsoft Edge:Top

• Click on the menu button on the top right corner of a Microsoft Edge window. Select “Extensions”.

• Select all malicious extensions and delete them.

• Click on the three-dot menu on the browser toolbar and Select Settings

• Select Privacy and Services and scroll down. Press on Address bar.

• Choose Manage search engines.

• Remove unnecessary search engines from the list: open the three-dot menu and choose Remove.

• Go back to Settings. Open On start-up.
• Delete malicious search websites at Open specific page or pages by opening the three-dot menu and clicking Delete.

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings If you are still experiencing any issues related to "Congratulations, Chrome user!" Pop-ups, reset the settings of your browser to its default settings

• Click on Edge's menu button and select Settings. Click on the Reset Settings button on the left.
• Press the Restore settings to their default values option.

• Click on the Reset button on the confirmation box.

If you cannot reset your browser settings and the problem persists, scan your system with an anti-malware program.

How To remove "Congratulations, Chrome user!" Pop-ups from Firefox:Top

• Click on the menu button on the top right corner of a Mozilla window and select the “Add-ons” icon (Or press Ctrl+Shift+A on your keyboard).
  
• Go through Extensions and Addons list, remove everything "Congratulations, Chrome user!" Pop-ups related and items you do not recognise. If you do not know the extension and it is not made by Mozilla, Google, Microsoft, Oracle or Adobe then you probably do not need it.
  
• If your homepage was changed, click on the Firefox menu in the top right corner, select Options → General. Enter a preferable URL to the homepage field and click Restore to Default.
  

(Optional) Reset your browser’s settings If you are still experiencing any issues related to "Congratulations, Chrome user!" Pop-ups, reset the settings of your browser to its default settings.

• Click on the menu button on the top right corner of a Mozilla Firefox window. Click on the Help button.
  
• ChooseTroubleshooting Information on the Help menu.
  
• Click on theReset Firefox button.
  
• Click on the Reset Firefox button on the confirmation box. Mozilla Firefox will close and change the settings to default.
  

If the problem persists, scan your system with an anti-malware program to identify malicious entries.