If you keep getting pop-ups on your iPhone or iPad telling you that you have been "selected as a winner" for an Amazon gift card or a free phone, it's because you've got a virus on your device.
This type of virus, known as adware, has been doing the rounds for years, and unfortunately it can be very hard to know where you picked it up.
While it may seem like the pop-ups are coming from the website you are visiting, they are actually triggered by data stored on your mobile device and the browser you are using.
So even if you close down the web page and relaunch your browser, the same pop-up may appear again a few minutes - or hours - later, while you are browsing a totally different site.
The good news is that the adware is usually fairly easy to get rid of.
What you should NOT do though, is click on the "close" button at the bottom of the pop up, as this could trigger an infection or redirect you to a scam website.
Instead, you should close your browser immediately, and clear the browser history on your device.
If you're using Safari, open the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad, Scroll down and tap on "Safari", then scroll down and tap on "Clear History and Website Data".
If you're using the Chrome browser, open the Chrome app on your iPhone or iPad and tap the three vertical dots to the right of the address bar.
Then tap "History" followed by "Clear Browsing Data" in the lower left-hand corner of the menu that appears.
You'll be shown a menu with five types of browsing data you can delete. Make sure the "Browsing History" option is ticked and then and hit the "Clear Browsing Data" button.
If you continue to see popup ads, you may need to clear your browsing history in the Facebook app as well, as this uses its own web browser.
To do this, open the Facebook app, tap the three horizontal lines in the bottom right corner of the screen, scroll down to the bottom and tap "Settings & Privacy".
Within the menu that opens up, tap "Settings", and then scroll down to the bottom. Within the "Media and contacts" section, tap "Browser", and then "Clear browsing data".
With any luck this should do the trick. But if you continue to see advertising or other unwanted programs on your Mac, contact Apple.
