Part of that ended up in some weird box so here it is again from copy/paste to see if this works better. Hopefully without that box.

I brought up the Firefox browser, went to the Drudge report, clicked on a news story, and instantly I got a orangeish red page claiming my browser was infected, call this number immediately for support. My computer is being hacked, or something to that effect, and my bank account files are being stolen. OK, I tried to close the page, but everything is dead, as in a fake page. Seen these before long long time ago so in order to close it I brought up Task Manager and closed the process tree. Reopened the browser and it was instantly there again. Closed the browser with task manage and ran a McAfee virus scan, CCleaner, and CleanMyPC. Tried again, same result. Checked windows update, same result. Everything is up to date.

I then called Verizon to confirm the phone number that it was trying to get me to call and Verizon confirms it belongs to Mozilla Firefox support. That seemed odd to me given the type of screen I'm dealing with is a scam screen that cannot be closed nor left unless you close Firefox with task manager.

Took a chance and called the number, gets an error message instead as in the number is no good. Double checked the number and is the same one that Verizon had just told me goes to Mozilla Firefox support.

In case you're interested in that number: 833-830-7966

I then started Firefox in safe mode. Nothing works there anyway, but no scam page loaded. Closed and went back to regular Firefox and now everything is working normally. At least at this moment.

Questions: 1) Any idea what happened? 2) Is that 833-830-7966 number a legitimate Firefox support number? 3) If that number is not legitimate then why is Verizon confirming it belongs to Firefox support?

Please advise and please give me all the details you might have so I can deal with this if it happens again.

John Campbell

Hi John, There is no phone number for Firefox support. What's happening at Verizon is that some low-level employee doesn't want to help with a general tech-support issue that has nothing to do with Verizon.

The reason why the page came up again is probably because Firefox didn't shut down properly, and was trying to restore your previous session. (see Restore previous session - Configure when Firefox shows your most recent tabs and windows)

I would recommend clearing your cookies and cache:

1. Click the Library button and choose History.
2. In the History menu, choose Clear Recent History.
3. In the Time Range to clear drop-down, select Everything.
4. Click the arrow next to Details to display the list of items that can be cleared.
5. Select both Cookies and Cache.
6. Click Clear Now.

If you have any further questions, just let us know.

You can use "Forget About This Site" if you still have a history item.

You can set this pref to 0 to always show the Session Restore page in case of a crash or when you use the Windows Task Manager to force a shutdown.

• browser.sessionstore.max_resumed_crashes = 0

• https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/about-config-editor-firefox

Chris Ilias said

Hi John, There is no phone number for Firefox support. What's happening at Verizon is that some low-level employee doesn't want to help with a general tech-support issue that has nothing to do with Verizon. The reason why the page came up again is probably because Firefox didn't shut down properly, and was trying to restore your previous session. (see Restore previous session - Configure when Firefox shows your most recent tabs and windows) I would recommend clearing your cookies and cache:

1. Click the Library button and choose History.
2. In the History menu, choose Clear Recent History.
3. In the Time Range to clear drop-down, select Everything.
4. Click the arrow next to Details to display the list of items that can be cleared.
5. Select both Cookies and Cache.
6. Click Clear Now.

If you have any further questions, just let us know.

I feel like an idiot. Hadn't even thought of that being the reason why it kept coming back. I suspect you might be right. However, I checked the history and it was already empty. Possibly something from the Safe Mode log-in did this?

As for the phone call with Verizon, I seriously doubt that was the case. They didn't know who or what company I was having the issue with when I asked them to check that phone number. Since 833 area code is a Toll Free section they checked it for me without hesitation. That tells me someone is guilty of fraud if there is no "support" number for Firefox. I'll contact Verizon again to confirm that number again and inform them of what's happened if I get the same answer as before.

Update: Just now got off the phone with Verizon tech support. Verizon tech support confirms 833 area code is toll free, but nothing in their system connects it to Firefox and it allegedly goes to a cell phone. Also, the phone number is spoofed. Further, when researching it out the tech did locate a website that has it listed as "Mozilla Microsoft support". Which obviously doesn't exist. Additionally, the website is mentioned as a scam as well and billing itself as: "Techscammersunited.com". Nothing like truth in advertising.

NO, I did not go to that website. Momma raised no fool.

Hence the initial contact with Verizon appears to be the result of the customer support person giving me information gleaned in a cursory instead of an in-depth.

If it's any consolation, the Verizon tech started laughing when reading up on it as someone reported that they called these scumbags and gave them a "25 second [long] Raspberry".

Sounds like more you went to those uncertified sites and got this message from scammers. As to Verizon since this wasn't their site or page they aren't responsible to fix or resolve it.

"I then called Verizon to confirm the phone number that it was trying to get me to call and Verizon confirms it belongs to Mozilla Firefox support."

This part makes me even more suspicious if this was even true. They would never say or comment to something like that.

In the end stop going to black sites or offsites that can't be verified as legit sites or spoofed sites.

"I brought up the Firefox browser, went to the Drudge report"

Also since no link was provided to what this was no one can help or verify the legitimacy of this posting.

.........................

PatriotsHeart, Mozilla the company that makes the desktop and mobile Firefox web browsers for Windows, Mac OSX, Linux and for Android and iOS (as a shell and not a full browser) does not have the resources to have the amount of staffed call centres for phone, chat, or email that would be needed especially since it would be for free for free to download and use applications.

Mozilla did some experiments long ago with some third-party tech support options where people would pay for support by email and phone but they were short lived.

For example back in 2003 Mozilla worked with a third-party company to try to do phone support. http://www.mozillazine.org/talkback.html?article=3748 http://www.mozillazine.org/talkback.html?article=3833

Firefox has been the current name of the desktop web browser since the 0.8 Release and before that it was Firebird for 0.6-0.7 and Phoenix for 0.1-0.5 in case you wonder why Firebird is mentioned in articles and not Firefox.

I agree with others that the Verizon tech support person probably did not even bother to search for that phone number in a search engine site like Google. You may have mentioned Mozilla or Firefox at some point and the person just said yes that is their phone support.

James,

I understand all this, but it's not related to the issue now. Thanks for the effort though. I appreciate the reply.

The situation is exactly as I described it. I only found out what was going on because of contacting you folks via this website and the second call I made to Verizon. The first call to Verizon was customer support. The person at customer support apparently did the same thing that the person at Verizon tech support did, but failed to make her in-depth look at the information she was giving me.

When I called back I called for tech support instead. Tech support looked into it and found the same things the person at customer support did, but he took the time to research what is what and explain it.

1) I did NOT tell customer support initially what the phone number was allegedly going to in my initial call. I let her tell me where it went to.

2) The second call was to tech support. The tech followed the same methodology, but explained what he was doing along the way. The first check is to see if this is a Verizon number. It is not. The second check is to see if the number is legitimate to another company. Area code wise it is, but that's where it ends. The third check is to look to see if there is any mention of it anywhere else. Turns out there was and one of those mentions is in fact something billing itself as "Mozilla Microsoft support". However, what the customer support person didn't realize was that "Mozilla Microsoft support" is mentioned in some sort of scammer reporting website. Hence the "25 second Raspberry" comment that one of the individuals reporting it stated.

"I agree with others that the Verizon tech support person probably did not even bother to search for that phone number in a search engine site like Google. You may have mentioned Mozilla or Firefox at some point and the person just said yes that is their phone support."

Not only is this not accurate, I've had lots of experience with Verizon and to the last person they have been absolutely great, helpful, forthcoming, in no rush to put you off, and I wouldn't do business with them were they not like this. I have never been gaffed off by anyone at Verizon. In fact, Verizon does go out of their way to check things out and since the scamming industry has been exceptionally hot this last decade in the phone calls made from spoofed phone numbers while claiming to be everything from the Internal Revenue Service, to Medicare, to your credit card company, and beyond, Verizon has made every effort to get on top of fraud as best they can with having both hands tied behind their backs with governments getting in the way. Hence why I know I can count on Verizon when anything regarding a questionable phone number comes up, via experience. In this particular area they even beat AT&T and I had AT&T religiously from 2016 back to before the Ma Bell breakup when we had Zenith phone numbers and Party Lines that used distinctive rings to tell you whose house the incoming call was supposed to be going to.

Trust me on this, with the problems currently happening today due to scammers, I check everything and with computer experience back to writing script in MSDOS 1.1 on a Tandy 1400 FD laptop in the early 80's you get to have witnessed a lot over the last few decades. That's why I quickly recognize an old scam screen when I see one.

As to how this happened initially, I simply brought up the Drudge Report which I frequent daily to get up to the moment news. I clicked on a "video" link regarding the Democrat Debates which was supposed to have been a YouTube link to a story. Instead I got hit, which wouldn't be the first time someone piggybacked a script on a legitimate URL for a redirect. A similar instance occurred during the Superbowl many years back for a link to the Superbowl commercials.

On another note, due to a reply from someone else that seems to want to assert that I had some weird motivation to bring my query here by stating the following words:

"Also since no link was provided to what this was no one can help or verify the legitimacy of this posting. "

"Verify the legitimacy of this posting"? It seems rather odd to me that anyone making such a detailed accounting, and requesting information, is so falsely accused without one shred of evidence and God only knows what would motivate such a thing to be done in the first place. Further, that same individual magically determined that I spend my time going to some weird websites.

This comment: "In the end stop going to black sites or offsites that can't be verified as legit sites or spoofed sites."

That was on top of obviously having zero clue of what they were trying to speak of and making up garbage along the way.

Frankly, aside from actual moderators who obviously didn't do this, getting someone like that posting a response to me and with that kind of content threw me completely off. When I came here for answers I expected professional courteous help be it from volunteers or not, not some stinking troll. I'll have to keep that one in mind for future considerations on both coming back if anything else arises and continued use of the Firefox browser as well in the future.

As for yourself and the rest of the moderators, I appreciate the information and assistance. I'll mark this as resolved so as not to burden anyone else with it. Thanks again.

Sincerely, John Campbell Weldon, Ca.

See also:

• https://www.google.com/search?sa=N&num=100&q=%22833-830-7966%22