Recently I’ve been getting these messages on my Samsung phone. They pop up in my browser. I’ve already got an antivirus on my phone so I wasn’t concerned about it. Clearly it’s a fake message but WTH are they coming from? After a while I noticed it was popping up when I was playing a mobile game called “Words with Friends”. Some of you may know it, it’s like Scrabble. It’s kind of fun and it reminds me of my childhood when I used to play Scrabble with my grandma. You know with an actual board on the dining room table. I really miss those days when we had little or no technology! Life was simpler.
Anyway, if you play free games on your phone, you’ve probably seen those scary pop-ups that say “Your phone is infected with viruses!” They usually try to push you into downloading a shady “security” app. The good news: your phone isn’t infected. The bad news: you’ve just run into a scam called malvertising.
Let’s break down what’s really going on and how you can protect yourself.
What’s really happening behind the scenes
When you play a free game like Words With Friends, the developer makes money by showing ads. Those ads don’t usually come directly from the game company. Instead, the game uses something called an ad mediation platform — basically a system that auctions off ad space to the highest bidder in real time.
Most of the time, the ads are harmless (think promotions for other games or products). But every so often, a bad advertiser slips a malicious ad through the system.
Here’s how it plays out:
- The game loads an ad from an ad network.
- The ad includes hidden code that forces your browser to open a new page.
- That page is designed to scare you — usually by claiming your phone is infected, hacked, or out of date.
- The scammers host their fake page on services like Amazon CloudFront, which is a legitimate tool but can be rented by anyone. That’s why you see a URL ending in cloudfront.net.
To be clear: Amazon isn’t running the scam. Scammers are just renting Amazon’s servers to deliver their fake pop-up.
Why you’re seeing these pop-ups
- Mobile games rely on ads: If you play for free, you’re going to see advertising.
- Bad ads sneak in: Scammers use the same ad networks as real companies, so sometimes their junk slips through.
- It’s not your phone: These warnings are not detecting anything on your device — they’re just designed to scare you into downloading malware.
How to protect yourself
You can’t stop scammers from trying, but you can stop them from reaching you.
✅ Don’t click anything on the fake warning page. Just close the tab or the app.
✅ Keep your apps updated — game developers sometimes block bad ad providers in updates.
✅ Use an ad blocker: On iPhone, install a Safari content blocker. On Android, browsers like Brave or Firefox block most of these redirects.
✅ Clear your browser cache if you accidentally tapped on the ad.
✅ Never install apps from these warnings — only download apps from the official App Store or Google Play.
Can you report this?
Yes! Developers want to know when a bad ad shows up. If you spot one in Words With Friends, you can:
- Take a screenshot of the ad or the fake warning page.
- Copy the full web address (the cloudfront.net or other URL).
- Report it through the game’s Help & Support menu, or submit it on Zynga’s support site: https://zyngasupport.helpshift.com.
This helps the developer trace which ad partner delivered the scam and block it for everyone.
Bottom line
Those virus pop-ups in your mobile games are scams, not infections. They’re just another trick from online advertisers gone bad. With a bit of caution — and by reporting them when you see them — you can protect yourself and help clean up the ad ecosystem at the same time.
If you have any questions or want to book a free consultation, contact me on LinkedIn. It is the best place to reach me.