How to remove Spreadhugemultiply.xyz ads

Spreadhugemultiply.xyz is a scam website that promises free gifts in exchange for personal information

Spreadhugemultiply.xyz is a suspicious website that you may encounter at any time when browsing the internet on Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, MS Edge, Safari, or another web browser. Most commonly, people get redirected to it whenever they browse high-risk websites (peer-to-peer networks, illegal video streaming platforms, etc.), although adware is also known to redirect users to suspicious phishing websites.

Spreadhugemultiply.xyz can host a variety of scams, but most commonly, crooks resort to survey scams and fake giveaways. Users are often offered to allegedly receive an expensive gift for free because some kind of high-profile organization chose them at random – scammers try to convince visitors that they are simply lucky.

Those who believe the scam, pick the supposed free gift, and proceed with attempting to reclaim it, are often asked to provide their personal information, which can later be used for various malicious purposes. If you encountered the scam and/or interacted with it, you shouldn't panic, as we will provide all the details on how to deal with the situation correctly.

Scam in detail

Technical support scams^[1] rely on people's fear as they attempt to frighten them and make them download fake security software or call the alleged tech support.

Happiness is another strong human emotion that can invoke excitement, and people might behave irrationally amidst being in this state. Fake giveaways and gift card scams are among those that attempt to abuse this, and it has become one of the most prevalent types of online fraud out there.

For example, Spreadhugemultiply.xyz is known to host the “You've made the 16.39-billionth search” scam, where users are told they were the lucky ones to be selected by Google to select and receive a free item. The offered items are often of high value, such as iPhone, PlayStation, Smart TV, or $1,000 gift card. After selecting one of the gifts seemingly randomly, users are then asked to enter their private details.

Crooks might claim that they need to acquire all sorts of information for various reasons, which include:

• Credit card details are needed to confirm you are not a bot – this verification method is used by many legitimate services and providers; unfortunately, this is only done to steal valuable banking data.
• Name, surname, and home address are asked in order to allegedly send the “won” item to the correct location. These details can later be disclosed to other cybercriminals or even used for identity fraud.
• Contact details, such as email, phone number, and similar, might be used for further scams via those means.

Disclosing your personal information on scam sites can be extremely dangerous, so you should never do this. If you have, please be aware of incoming scam messages via email, phone, or other means. If you have disclosed a password you use for other accounts (which you should never do in the first place!),^[2] you should immediately change it everywhere to something more secure.

How to avoid high-risk sites

Users do not venture to suspicious websites on purpose – it happens due to negligence or due to websites being hacked by malicious parties. Most commonly, people end up on scam and phishing^[3] websites through various other high-risk sites, such as torrents, illegal video streaming services, and similar.

You should avoid visiting websites with dubious content as much as you can. Not only might you get redirected to websites hosting phishing content but also infect your system with malware via malicious scripts or by directly downloading infected files.

It is also important to note that adware could be one of the main reasons for intrusive ads and why users encounter phishing content online. If you have recently installed freeware from third-party websites, it could be the reason why you might not even know that it's running in the background.

Check the system for infections

Since adware could be one of the main reasons for malicious ads and redirects, we recommend checking the system thoroughly. Uninstalling programs from the system level, getting rid of suspicious extensions, and scanning the system with anti-malware are all advised steps for a safer and better computing experience.

1. Uninstall unwanted apps

Windows

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

Mac

While moving apps into Trash is usually how you delete most normal applications, adware tends to create additional files for persistence. Thus, you should look for .plist and other files that could be related to the virus. If you are not sure, skip this step entirely.

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. Look for any suspicious entries in the Application Support folder and then delete them.
4. Now enter /Library/LaunchAgents and /Library/LaunchDaemons folders the same way and terminate all the related .plist files.

2. Scan with security software

Malicious applications might not always be shown on the installed program list simply because they were programmed that way on purpose. They might also hijack background processes and operate without emitting any visible symptoms.

Therefore, we recommend you perform a full system scan with SpyHunterCombo Cleaner, MalwarebytesMalwarebytes, or another powerful security software. This would 

3. Clean your browsers

To remove unwanted add-ons from the browser, you should click the “Extensions” button next to the settings menu and then get rid of everything you don't recognize. If that is not possible for some reason, you can always access browser settings as explained below and get rid of suspicious extensions from there.

Then, you should also clean your web browser from trackers such as cookies, as they may remain on your system for many years, and continue tracking your online activities for unknown parties. The easiest way to get rid of these leftover files is by scanning the device with the maintenance utility FortectIntego – this would be much more efficient than doing it manually.