"Congratulations device user!" - How to remove

“Congratulations device user!” stands for a scary alert delivered through several shady resources, for instance, varbigwin41.live, varbigwin41.live, etc. The trick of the pop-up is that it promises you to win certain gifts allegedly as a part of the Google Membership Rewards program. For instance, the alert may indicate a chance of winning new iPhone 11, Samsung Galaxy or some other cutting-edge device.

The real purpose of the “Congratulations device user!” scam is to steal your personal details by forcing you to fill in a certain application form for collecting such data. “Congratulations device user!” fake alerts normally pop-up unintentionally. The potential victims do not visit the pop-up based on their personal decision. There’s some potentially unwanted program (PUP) causing the aforesaid redirections. For instance, the trouble may be the result of the certain adware-type utility of browser hijacker currently active on your device.

About the “Congratulations device user!” scam:

Type of threat	Scam, phishing.
Dangers posed by “Congratulations device user!”	Stolen personal and banking data, that data misused in ways that cost you money, receiving spam and targeted phishing.
How the scam spreads	Malicious ads, pop-ups on unsafe websites, adware infections.
How to avoid the “Congratulations device user!” scam	Find and remove malware (Combo Cleaner for Mac, Spyhunter for PC, etc.), report the scam, keep an eye on your bank account, be careful of repeated scams that use your personal information.

Faulty statements by the “Congratulations device user!” scam.

Once the victim eventually encounters the “Congratulations device user!” alert, the information provided in the message may be very tricky. The chance of winning a brand new iPhone or another top gadget simply by filling in the survey or questionnaire definitely looks like not a big deal, so some people agree to share the requested data. The pop-up claims to be related to the Google Membership Rewards program. It mentions your IP, location and the Internet service provider name.

Congratulations device user. Your IP has been selected!
Google Membership Rewards
Every Thursday we randomly select 10 lucky device users, once a day to receive a gift from our sponsors. This gift is exclusively and only for our mobile network operator customers in Rome! This is just our way to thank you for your continuous support of our product and services.
You have been selected to receive a gift worth up to £999 if you answer the next 4 questions correctly.
Act now! 9 other users have received this invitation with only 5 prizes available to win.

The alert indicates that this so-called giveaway is in appreciation of users’ continuous support of Google products and services. This is similar to a few other scams, like Dear Facebook user, congratulations!, Youtube Reward Center, and Congratulations Dear Amazon Customer.

Even if there is no mentioning about certain top gadgets as a promised reward, the alert could alternatively indicate the chance of winning some other prize worth at least 799 USD, as long as the people answer specific questions correctly. The “Congratulations device user!” scam also indicates that this requested information must be provided as quickly as possible due to the fact that the number of gifts is subject to limitations, as well as the time for answering the given questions. The set of questions is very simple to answer. Once the quiz is completed, the users are instructed to choose the desired prize, however, soon they are brought to another website. This is where they are told to specify the details for delivery of the fake gift, for instance:

• name and surname;
• address;
• email;
• cell phone number.

The danger of providing the above-said data is that it may be misused in many ways. For instance, the information may be granted into the hands of third-party companies and thus cause certain privacy issues or even result in identity theft. Finally, the “Congratulations device user!” alert may encourage you into making financial transactions, for instance, bogus shipping costs and reimbursement of other fake expenses. Hence, you should not trust any deceptive promises given by the above-said scam.

Other negativity related to adware.

In addition to continuous redirections to fake surveys or scam websites, the adware may also forward you to the wider range of rogue, hacked of absolutely dangerous resources. In general, the permanent browser redirections to random websites caused by the adware results in continuous system slowdown, freezing or crashes.

Often the adware-type app currently enabled in your computer may show an excessive number of irrelevant ads, pop-up windows and forward you to the multitude of shady websites that may contain malicious scripts in order to infect your system with other malware. The available browsers may also be under the risk of being modified by the adware. For instance, it may cause the unauthorized amendment of the default home page or search engine settings, making it really inconvenient for you to look for the requested information online.

Finally, the adware is provided with data tracking features. This means that all your online activities are under the permanent survey and analysis. The adware tracks your IP addresses, geographical locations, submitted search queries or viewed pages, whereas this private and confidential data may eventually be ranted to online criminals for generating the revenue. Hence, to secure your system from the aforesaid negative outcome, make sure to get rid of the adware producing the “Congratulations device user!” scam.

How to remove the “Congratulations device user!” pop-ups?

The peculiarity of the above-said fake alerts is their ability to attack both Windows and Mac browsers, and even mobile devices. The first step is to perform a visual inspection of your device. Make sure to check your available applications to get rid of the software that does not look familiar to you. In the same manner, inspect your current browser extensions (add-ons) and disable the entries that you don’t remember installing based on your own decision.

To make sure that your device is absolutely free of any other related malware, we recommend scanning with reliable security software, such as Combo Cleaner for macOS, Spyhunter for Windows, or another trusted program. Often adware is quite tricky in its attempts to remain on your device. The manual steps to detect it often do not fully fix the issue. Please refer to the detailed automatic removal guide provided below.

If you accidentally gave away your personal information, report the scam. Keep a record of what happened. This will help you protect yourself in case your data is abused by criminals. For example, if you have a record that shows that you had your data stolen, that can make it easier to prove your innocence in case your ID is misused.

Phishing scams are no joke. If you used your credit card for the “Congratulations device user!” scam, keep a close eye on it and dispute any unauthorized charges. You may want to contact your bank and seek some advice. Be completely honest with your bank so that they can help you.

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