You’re browsing along on your mobile, and suddenly this screen or one like it pops up. You can’t go back. Sometimes your device begins buzzing. Sometimes there’s an ominous computer-generated voice along with it.

You can usually quit your browser altogether, but you might lose where you were. If you click “OK”, you might get another warning:

Click the “Remove viruses” button and you’re taken to the Play Store where you can download the app that “removes viruses.”

Don’t do this. Just don’t.

If the authors of the application use this technique to terrify you into downloading their app, you can hardly trust software they’ve written.

If this is being done by an affiliate marketer, it could be legitimate, but I wouldn’t bet money on it.

Lastly,  as a general rule Android devices don’t attract viruses. Many of these “cleaners” are devised to either put real malware on your device or generate more scare messages which will lead you to a paid cleaning service.

Best to stay away from all of them; here’s an excellent article on the subject from ExtremeTech.

Be safe out there.

The Old Wolf has spoken.