On a more serious note, emergency broadcast systems, organizational security departments, and local and state governments use pop-ups to notify you in case of an emergency. The malicious code could automatically redirect your browser to a phishing site or try to spread ransomware to your machine. You don’t click the link or call the phone number.īut thanks to the science of steganography, hackers could embed malicious code directly into the pop-up ad. Some malicious pop-up ads are easy to avoid.

When hackers create fake website pop-up ads to try and infect your device with malware, it’s called malvertising. This means clicking on a pop-up ad can be dangerous because it could download malware to your device. Done right, pop-up ads can successfully get us to sign up for emails and subscribe to site updates.īut pop-up ads can also be used by hackers who exploit vulnerabilities in a web browser’s security.

Behind the curtain, pop-ups mainly use JavaScript to pop up in a new window.Īdvertisers use pop-ups to draw in new customers. If you have an older version of Internet Explorer, please scroll down the page for instructions.On our end, pop-up ads seem to suddenly appear, usually disrupting whatever we’re doing on the web page we’re visiting. Please visit Microsoft's FAQ for instructions on how to turn Internet Explorer's pop-up blocker off. Įven if you have enabled Safari’s pop-up blocker, you will still be able to use the payment website. Please see Google's support documentation for how to do this. Here is how to manage pop-up blocker settings in Firefox.Ĭhrome also allows you to add sites to an approved list. Once you add a site to this list, you can always see pop-ups from that site. In Firefox, you can add specific websites to an approved list.

Select your browser from the list for instructions on allowing pop-ups. Here is some information on how to allow pop-ups from our website in most popular browsers. If you are unable to make a payment through the website, your internet browser may be blocking pop-up windows, which are necessary to continue.

What to do if pop up window is blocked