Apple Details Terminal Anti-Scam Warning in macOS - MacRumors

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Apple Details Terminal Anti-Scam Warning in macOS

Tuesday June 16, 2026 6:17 am PDT by Tim Hardwick<br>Back in March with the release of macOS Tahoe 26.4, Apple introduced a new security popup that warns Mac users when they paste a command into the Terminal app that could be harmful. Apple has now published a support document explaining why the popup warning appears.

Screenshot via "Mr. Macintosh"

The warning says the following when it appears:

Possible malware, Paste blocked

Your Mac has not been harmed.

Scammers often encourage pasting text into Terminal to try and harm your Mac or compromise your privacy.

These instructions are commonly offered via websites, chat agents, apps, files, or a phone call.

There is a "Paste Anyway" option for users to proceed if they wish.

In a document titled "If your Mac blocks a Terminal command paste or script," spotted by 9to5Mac, Apple explains that the alert appears if you don't regularly use Terminal and you copied the command from somewhere like a website, chat agent, or messaging or email app.

"Scammers use these channels to instruct people to paste malicious commands into Terminal to harm your Mac or compromise your privacy," says Apple. "This alert helps make sure that you aren't tricked into running a command that you didn't expect."

The document also mentions two other types of Terminal-related alerts that are more proactive. If a "Malware Detected, Paste Blocked" or "Malicious Script Blocked" alert appears, macOS has detected a command or script that contains known malware and has blocked it, according to Apple. In such cases, no "Paste Anyway" option is provided.

Apple says that if you believe the command or script was mistakenly blocked, it could be because a website that it tries to access was incorrectly reported as deceptive. In that case, users can report the error.

[ 12 comments ]

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Top Rated Comments

pigeonguy<br>1 hour ago at 06:20 am

Very nice feature. Seems well thought out.<br>Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)

turbineseaplane<br>1 hour ago at 06:33 am

If you’re doing any interactions with the terminal, you need to know what you’re doing.<br>Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)

jchap<br>1 hour ago at 06:25 am

Sites asking to use the Command Prompt utility on Windows to paste and execute code are getting to be an infamously popular scam. Too bad that scammers are also getting savvy to how to do the same with Mac users.

Any site that asks for command prompt or Terminal access should be avoided like the plague. I'm glad that Apple is seeing this trend and responding with verification as well.<br>Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Tres<br>39 minutes ago at 07:07 am

Maybe it would be a good idea to just not ship the Terminal.app as part of the OS distribution. Advanced users will know how to get one, and there are many alternatives that are much better.

Saying this as someone who uses Terminal several times a week: Ship it but disable it by default. It would create an extra pain point for scammers to have to get through. 99.9% of users don’t need Terminal.<br>Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)

MilaM<br>30 minutes ago at 07:16 am

Why not just use ipadOS at that point

I'm not arguing to remove the...