Brainychoose-captcha.top ads (scam) - Free Instructions

What is Brainychoose-captcha.top ads?

Brainychoose-captcha.top asks to click a button to make you subscribe to push notifications

Brainychoose-captcha.top uses social engineering to generate revenue

Brainychoose-captcha.top is a bogus page that is disguised as a captcha^[1] verification step. It asks to click a button to verify that users are not robots but what it actually does is start sending push notifications straight to users' screens. They are pop-ups that may contain links leading to dangerous pages where users can be tricked into providing their personal information or downloading PUPs (potentially unwanted programs) and malware.^[2]

Social engineering tactics that fraudsters use have become increasingly more clever, and it becomes harder to distinguish them even for the most experienced users. Scammers are motivated to come up with them because they can generate revenue from every click with the help of PPC advertising.^[3] What is more, they do not care about user security or privacy, so they do not filter the ads that can show up in your browser.

More about push notification sites

Brainychoose-captcha.top can lead to dangerous pages

There are thousands of websites just like Brainychoose-captcha.top or similar. We write about them every day, and some of the examples include News-nocale.cc, Gettingyourcontent.com, and Shotvideoalt.ru. The problem of notification spam is an increasing one, and it does not seem it will be taken care of short term. The issue is that these kinds of pages are very easy to recreate. All the individuals behind it have to do is get a domain and put a picture on the page. They do not need multiple pages or privacy policies.

Captcha verification is not the only thing they use to lure people in. Besides the “Click “Allow” to confirm that you are not a robot” message, you might encounter these ones:

Press Allow to verify that you are over 18
Click Allow to watch the video
Download is ready. Click Allow to download your file
Press Allow to continue

All of these can look normal to a not very tech-savvy person, but you should keep in mind that a legitimate website will never ask you to confirm something for anything in return. Websites do not need manual permission from the user to be able to play media files and so on. If you see something similar, you should think about it twice before clicking anything.

Another good idea is to read everything and not rush. When people stumble upon pages like this, they have to click a button in the browser prompt that says that the website wants to send push notifications. If most users would actually read what they are clicking on, this would not be such a huge problem.

Removal options

After you will disable the pop-ups, there is another worrying thing that you should take care of. Almost every website you visit uses cookies to gather information about your activities. Considering that you were infected with push notifications from a shady site, we assume that your data could not be in very trustworthy hands.

The good thing is that you can delete cookies^[4] because they are stored on your device. FortectIntego is perfect for this task as it will automatically take care of all your browsers, so you do not have to worry about it. Besides that, this tool can fix registry issues, BSoDs, and other system errors that can occur after serious infections.

Now because push notifications are based on a subscription model, you can stop them from coming via browser settings:

Google Chrome (desktop):

1. Open Google Chrome browser and go to Menu > Settings.
2. Scroll down and click on Advanced.
3. Locate the Privacy and security section and pick Site Settings > Notifications.
4. Look at the Allow section and look for a suspicious URL.
5. Click the three vertical dots next to it and pick Block. This should remove unwanted notifications from Google Chrome.

Google Chrome (Android):

1. Open Google Chrome and tap on Settings (three vertical dots).
2. Select Notifications.
3. Scroll down to Sites section.
4. Locate the unwanted URL and toggle the button to the left (Off setting).

Mozilla Firefox:

1. Open Mozilla Firefox and go to Menu > Options.
2. Click on Privacy & Security section.
3. Under Permissions, you should be able to see Notifications. Click Settings button next to it.
4. In the Settings – Notification Permissions window, click on the drop-down menu by the URL in question.
5. Select Block and then click on Save Changes. This should remove unwanted notifications from Mozilla Firefox.

Safari:

1. Click on Safari > Preferences…
2. Go to Websites tab and, under General, select Notifications.
3. Select the web address in question, click the drop-down menu and select Deny.

MS Edge:

1. Open Microsoft Edge, and click the Settings and more button (three horizontal dots) at the top-right of the window.
2. Select Settings and then go to Advanced.
3. Under Website permissions, pick Manage permissions and select the URL in question.
4. Toggle the switch to the left to turn notifications off on Microsoft Edge.

MS Edge (Chromium):

1. Open Microsoft Edge, and go to Settings.
2. Select Site permissions.
3. Go to Notifications on the right.
4. Under Allow, you will find the unwanted entry.
5. Click on More actions and select Block.

Internet Explorer:

1. Open Internet Explorer, and click on the Gear icon at the top-right on the window.
2. Select Internet options and go to Privacy tab.
3. In the Pop-up Blocker section, click on Settings.
4. Locate web address in question under Allowed sites and pick Remove.

Adware is a growing issue for Internet users

Blocking push notifications in the settings is not always enough. Sometimes there can be adware^[5] hiding in the system that initiates redirects to websites like these and places ads in the search results. If you have completed the previous step but feel like the overall commercial content has increased, and your browser is behaving weirdly, it is definitely worth checking out.

The best way to do this is to use professional security tools like SpyHunter 5Combo Cleaner or Malwarebytes that can automatically scan the machine and detect suspicious processes. The anti-malware tools will eliminate the intruders with all of the related files and entries so you can be sure that the threat is out of your system.

Another reason for this is that detecting a PUP manually can be quite complicated. It is unknown what its name or icon is. It could be disguised as a handy tool that you would never suspect could be performing sneaky tasks in the background without your knowledge. But if you installed something recently and know for sure it has to be the cause of your problems, you can try manual removal for Windows and Mac computers:

Windows 10/8:

1. Enter Control Panel into Windows search box and hit Enter or click on the search result.
2. Under Programs, select Uninstall a program.
3. From the list, find the entry of the suspicious program.
4. Right-click on the application and select Uninstall.
5. If User Account Control shows up, click Yes.
6. Wait till uninstallation process is complete and click OK.

Windows 7/XP:

1. Click on Windows Start > Control Panel located on the right pane (if you are Windows XP user, click on Add/Remove Programs).
2. In Control Panel, select Programs > Uninstall a program.
3. Pick the unwanted application by clicking on it once.
4. At the top, click Uninstall/Change.
5. In the confirmation prompt, pick Yes.
6. Click OK once the removal process is finished.

Mac:

1. From the menu bar, select Go > Applications.
2. In the Applications folder, look for all related entries.
3. Click on the app and drag it to Trash (or right-click and pick Move to Trash)

To fully remove an unwanted app, you need to access Application Support, LaunchAgents, and LaunchDaemons folders and delete relevant files:

1. Select Go > Go to Folder.
2. Enter /Library/Application Support and click Go or press Enter.
3. In the Application Support folder, look for any dubious entries and then delete them.
4. Now enter /Library/LaunchAgents and /Library/LaunchDaemons folders the same way and terminate all the related .plist files.