Thecarriedand.xyz ads (fake) - Free Guide

What is Thecarriedand.xyz ads?

Thecarriedand.xyz developers try to trick users by using cheap tricks

Thecarriedand.xyz is a scam website that uses social engineering tricks on visitors

There are plenty of websites that are created to be informative and useful, although there are plenty of crooks that specialize in malicious activities online. Thecarriedand.xyz is a fake website created for one and only reason – to scam users into subscribing to push notifications. People never visit it intentionally, however, and are rather redirected from some other place, usually high-risk websites. This can happen on Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, or another web browser out there, as all of them employ the push notification feature initially.

Upon website entry, users are presented with a push notification prompt that asks whether visitors want to allow or block notifications. While most people would not subscribe to it, crooks try to convince users to do so by showing them misleading information about what the prompt actually is.

As soon as users press the “Allow” button, they usually don't realize that they just let Thecarriedand.xyz deliver push notifications at any time (although the activity usually does not start immediately). These pop-ups often carry links that can be clicked intentionally or not, which matters not to crooks, as each click generates ad revenue.

Unfortunately, these links can be malicious and link users to websites where they could get infected with malware, disclose their personal information, or subscribe to completely useless services. We strongly advise against interacting with these pop-ups but instead remove them immediately.

In this article, we explore why push notification scams work and how to avoid them in the future what to look out for. We also explain how to ensure that your system is secure and how to keep it that way to ensure your privacy and computer security in the future.

How online scams spread

There are many types of scams and phishing techniques used on various websites in order to gain something – be it personal information, ad revenue, or malware propagation. In any case, these types of malicious websites are obviously not welcomed overall, although they do exist and are not going anywhere, despite the best efforts of high-profile tech companies and law authorities. The internet is simply too vast to moderate each and single one of the newly-created websites, hence malicious places can't be eradicated completely.

In order to spread malicious websites, cybercriminals employ various techniques. For example, adware is one of the reasons many people are constantly seeing malicious websites and advertisements. Alternatively, users can simply be redirected from some other page accidentally (usually, this happens on high-risk websites, e.g., fake download buttons on torrent sites).

Adware belongs to the category of potentially unwanted programs^[1] – they are not usually installed on purpose due to a distribution technique known as bundling, where several components are compiled into a single installer. If not handled properly, it allows optional installs to be implemented automatically.

Therefore, you should always watch over the installation process of freeware^[2] and decline all the offers on the way. But be careful – watch out for fine print text, misleading button placements, pre-ticked checkboxes, and always pick the Advanced/Custom installation settings instead of Recommended/Quick ones.

Scam websites often use various images and fake messages to convince users to press the "Allow" button

If you suspect that you have adware installed on your device, you should immediately perform a full system scan with anti-malware software such as SpyHunter 5Combo Cleaner, Malwarebytes. It can find all the malicious software on your device and remove it at once. If something malicious was found, you should also take your time to clean your browsers and delete cookies^[3] and other web data. You can do it by using our detailed instructions at the bottom of this post or by employing an automatic repair and maintenance tool FortectIntego.

How to avoid being scammed in the future

Initially, if one would enter the Thecarriedand.xyz URL into a browser's Omnibox and hit Enter, they would see a front page of a “Breaking News” website. It might look like nothing special until you actually check the website's contents because there is no news available on it.

Allegedly, users are supposed to allow the notifications to be shown in order to receive them. In reality, no legitimate website would ask users to do that sort of thing to deliver some type of content. Therefore, you should never agree to such a bad deal in the first place.

However, most people don't even see this version of the website, as they are usually redirected from somewhere else. Instead, they are presented with a push notification prompt and a message that actively tries to convince them that pressing the “Allow” button is something that needs to be done due to one reason or another. Here's an example:

Click Allow to watch the video

There is an assumption that some type of video would be available upon pressing the Allow button. Usually, the page is also accompanied by a generic picture that is supposed to look like a video about to be played. In reality, there is no content to explore after the request is fulfilled. Instead, users are redirected to a similar website, e.g., Equames.com, Smartcaptchasolve.top, or Liffsandupa.xyz.

Your best bet is to leave the page and not interact with anything. If you were tricked by the Thecarriedand.xyz scam, you can remove the permission to display the notifications via your web browser's settings.

Remove Thecarriedand.xyz pop-ups at once

Many people who start seeing suspicious pop-ups showing on their desktops believe that they have been infected by a virus. While performing a scan with powerful anti-malware is really a good idea, it does not help users to solve the problem and remove the annoying notifications.

This can be easily explained – antivirus is usually not capable of meddling with your browser settings, and you need to do that yourself. Follow all the details below:

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 the 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 the Websites tab and, under General, select Notifications.
3. Select the web address in question, click the drop-down menu and select Deny.

MS Edge (legacy):

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 of the window.
2. Select Internet options and go to the Privacy tab.
3. In the Pop-up Blocker section, click on Settings.
4. Locate web address in question under Allowed sites and pick Remove.

Keep in mind that this method can be applied to any other website, so you can allow or deny notifications to be shown to you. In order to avoid being scammed in the future, remember that the notification prompt only fulfills one purpose – it allows the website to deliver you information through pop-ups that appear on your desktop at random times.

You may remove virus damage with a help of FortectIntego. SpyHunter 5Combo Cleaner and Malwarebytes are recommended to detect potentially unwanted programs and viruses with all their files and registry entries that are related to them.