Malware on Samsung Note 10 :(

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Kookoo

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#281124 31-Jan-2021 20:16

Help! I'm getting spam and scam pop-ups on Chrome on my Note 10.

Happens whenever I open Chrome; or if the phone is locked and I unlock it - Chrome is up showing me a new scam page. Chrome isn't even my default browser. Got all the classics there including "security update", "install antivirus" and the likes.

What I've done so far:

- force stopped Chrome, "uninstalled", cleared cache, reinstalled with account sync disabled

- installed and ran Malwarebytes - no issues found

- installed and ran Bitdefender - no issues found

Any ideas what else I can do here?

Hello, Ground!

freitasm

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Geekzone

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#2644866 31-Jan-2021 20:47

It is likely other apps, not Chrome itself. Tried pressing the tasks button to see what other app was running just before? Any apps recently updated?

Kookoo

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#2644901 31-Jan-2021 21:44

freitasm: It is likely other apps, not Chrome itself. Tried pressing the tasks button to see what other app was running just before? Any apps recently updated?

Thanks Mauricio. This helped massively - took me a couple of minutes to find out the culprit. It was "Barcode scanner" that I've been using for years - it's now been hijacked and used for malware. How the heck this passed Google's release controls is beyond me, but here we are. Thanks again.

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freitasm

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#2644905 31-Jan-2021 21:50

Barcode scanners, torch apps, games and other "utilities" are usually the culprit. Chrome, Opera, Firefox, Microsoft, Google and apps from reputable sources aren't...

Kookoo

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#2644910 31-Jan-2021 22:13

freitasm:
Barcode scanners, torch apps, games and other "utilities" are usually the culprit. Chrome, Opera, Firefox, Microsoft, Google and apps from reputable sources aren't...

Which begs the question - what use is antimalware like Malwarebytes, and antivirus like Bitdefender if their algorithms failed to detect this,

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Hammerer

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#2644971 1-Feb-2021 06:57

Kookoo: Which begs the question - what use is antimalware like Malwarebytes, and antivirus like Bitdefender if their algorithms failed to detect this,

Malwarebytes and Bitdefender may not be aware of this particular issue as they don't install and test every app.

An app displaying webpages in a web browser is normally a legitimate activity e.g. for help and tutorials so an algorithm wouldn't pick this up unless the webpages were reported as bad.

You can submit the webpage links and executable file to antimalware services:

Malwarebytes https://support.malwarebytes.com/hc/en-us/articles/360038522814-Submit-a-phishing-link-malicious-website-or-file-to-Malwarebytes

freitasm

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#2649676 8-Feb-2021 20:31

And here it is: Barcode Scanner app on Google Play infects 10 million users with one update - Malwarebytes Labs | Malwarebytes Labs

Batman

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#2649762 8-Feb-2021 21:10

doesi thought the note 10 OS will warn you of apps that request certain permissions

though i suppose there is no permission needed for unsolicited pop up ads huh?

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Kookoo

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#2649810 8-Feb-2021 21:22

freitasm:
And here it is: Barcode Scanner app on Google Play infects 10 million users with one update - Malwarebytes Labs | Malwarebytes Labs

Good find, that's exactly what it was.

Hello, Ground!