Database Info

Be aware 'Scam' App : U need 2 read this ! It may cost u money if u don't!!!!

Hiya,
I'm bagofbits and new to these forum's and was not sure how to contact anyone at XDA so after some after advice from LUFC (forum moderator) here is my situation.
I have a wildfire s and been viewing those forums, during the last couple of days since the change over from android market to google playground or whatever it's called these days, I've been getting a popup app in my status bar saying please download 'battery supercharger' . I've been just clearing my status bar but it just kept coming back.
Today by mistake i downloaded it and got loads of texts within minutes and ended up with a charge of £4.99, I text 'STOP' to the number given. My network provider(3) can't help and I've mailed google help about it and they have logged it and are getting back to me.
Also a number of post's on the web about it...
Anyway enough rambling, I've searched the wildfire s forum and can't see any mention of it, just thought that it would be useful to post something about it so nobody else falls victim to this.
Give me a thanks if u could please.
Cheers
Oh might be an idea to check recent downloads you have made that contain ad's that may harbor this scam.

bagofbits said:
Hiya,
I'm bagofbits and new to these forum's and was not sure how to contact anyone at XDA so after some after advice from LUFC (forum moderator) here is my situation.
I have a wildfire s and been viewing those forums, during the last couple of days since the change over from android market to google playground or whatever it's called these days, I've been getting a popup app in my status bar saying please download 'battery supercharger' . I've been just clearing my status bar but it just kept coming back.
Today by mistake i downloaded it and got loads of texts within minutes and ended up with a charge of £4.99, I text 'STOP' to the number given. My network provider(3) can't help and I've mailed google help about it and they have logged it and are getting back to me.
Also a number of post's on the web about it...
Anyway enough rambling, I've searched the wildfire s forum and can't see any mention of it, just thought that it would be useful to post something about it so nobody else falls victim to this.
Give me a thanks if u could please.
Cheers
Oh might be an idea to check recent downloads you have made that contain ad's that may harbor this scam.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The ad you saw in your status bar used ad over the air function.
There are some apps which will detect apps using the add. Method. And will give you the ability to uninstall it.
Sent from my HTC HD2 using xda premium

Thanks
Thanks for the advice, I have installed firewall and virus protection now, can u advise on an app for trapping these OTA updates ?

WOW, thanks for posting this up. I'll keep an eye out for this one!

bagofbits said:
Thanks for the advice, I have installed firewall and virus protection now, can u advise on an app for trapping these OTA updates ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The best one and most trusted one is from lookout.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lookout.addetector
Press the thanks button
Sent from my HTC HD2 using xda premium

Try airpush detector from the market to find out what the offending app is.

Never txt stop to a random number that's how they get ya, school boy error
THISIS50 if its hot its here

School boy error
Just to set the record straight this 'thing' auto en-roles u 'before' u text stop and it applies the charge!
If I'm guilty of anything it's downloading by mistake !
Google it and see what others are saying bout it, I was just trying to help and your criticism ain't justified.

jamieunit said:
Never txt stop to a random number that's how they get ya, school boy error
THISIS50 if its hot its here
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunately this is true, you have not stopped the messages - just confirmed to the spammers that the number is live and real. 3 may be able to help you by blacklisting the numbers you are getting messages from - also have a look here if the messages persist.
This is a problem that is by no means limited to the Wildfire S - recently I recognised an app on my friend's Samsung Galaxy Ace as being malware - it was also generating notifications about some kind of battery optimizer. I managed to remove it before she accidentally signed up to anything.
Regarding the app, try some apps like Lookout Mobile Security and BitDefender . If you run a scan with these, they may find the offending app and help you to remove it. Good luck!

solution to battery supercharger text costs
saw the two text messages yesterday, spoke to Vodafone told them to block any charges today, up to which time charges hadn't gone through. So hopefully this will cost me nothing.
even if they had placed the charge, I would have asked Vodafone not to pay it, and kicked up a fuss until the agreed not to do so, or carry the cost themselves. Anybody with a mobile phone contract is in a very strong position at the moment I have noticed, getting lots of freebies off them.

thanx for ur advice
but i think it is not harmful

[Q] cracked by ChelpuS

Hi guys, noob here. I have an awkard situation and dont know how to go about it. I keep getting a "cracked by ChelpuS" message on the bottom of my Tab (Samsung) constantly and i cant find a program running in the background that i dont know about that could cause this. Ive had superuser installed for quite a while and have never had this message before. Im starting to worry that i might have downloaded some type of spyware or that my phone is being monitored by this chelpus guy or his app. First time for me and dont know what to do.
Thnx in advance
ivput this in general hacking section since i dont know where to begin with this type of question. I have searched and have found no one with the same situation. Agian thnx in
advance.

chelpus is a hacker that hack paid apps from market and make it usable for free,maybe some of your apps are paid app that cracked by him
Sent from my LT18i

remove lucky patcher or do the hard reset for your tab

Or basically uninstall any app you have downloaded somewhere else than market.
Sent from LT18i @ Xda Premium

stillteachin said:
Hi guys, noob here. I have an awkard situation and dont know how to go about it. I keep getting a "cracked by ChelpuS" message on the bottom of my Tab (Samsung) constantly and i cant find a program running in the background that i dont know about that could cause this. Ive had superuser installed for quite a while and have never had this message before. Im starting to worry that i might have downloaded some type of spyware or that my phone is being monitored by this chelpus guy or his app. First time for me and dont know what to do.
Thnx in advance
ivput this in general hacking section since i dont know where to begin with this type of question. I have searched and have found no one with the same situation. Agian thnx in
advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It means you are running pirated software, potentially with malware.
You know some of us feed our families 99cents at a time right?

jcase said:
It means you are running pirated software, potentially with malware.
You know some of us feed our families 99cents at a time right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Relax. Before you try to make him feel guilty, he may not have known it was a paid app and just dl'd the apk. Maybe the app was incompatible or not showing in the market so he couldn't dl it legitimately.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

lucky patcher, titanium backup activator, or even a hacked titanium backup that is a pro version is causing the prompt.
chelpus is a cracker from Russia, who cracks apps, and i dont think its a spyware,
if u r rooted, use rom toolbox to find startup apps, then dissable any market/3rd party apps from startup.
well, i am not 100%sure, but it may due to cracked tb.( tb usually runs in bootup, or else any activator like lucky patcher/ tb activator etc. they run in startup, jus uninstall or remove from startup. u will be ok.
Sent from my HTC HD2 using xda premium

Android Rom and Banking Fraud?

Hello to all,
first of all forgive me if i am in the wrong forum. Second I am not an authority with ROMs and developing. I can flash a new ROM and follow guidance easily but that's it. Up to that.
I will tell you my scary experience with a specific rom which i installed a couple of days ago on my S3. First off all this post is not suppose to be rude to anyone or anything. I am telling you my story and I would appreciate your input as you are the experts.
3 days ago I installed the MIUI (http://miuiandroid.com/community) ROM on my S3.
As soon as I turned the phone on to run it for the first time I went to the typical set ups but then I noticed something.
On he top right corner of the status bar the a green phone icon appeared meaning that the phone was automatically set on "Call-diverting" .I dint pay any attention for about 30 mins as I was setting up the phone.
When I decided to see what the icon does to my sock and horror I realised that my phone was pre setted to call diverting automatically to a specific mobile number in the UK.
I quickly disabled the call diverting and dint think anything more. All of that happened around 12:30 in the afternoon (pay real attention to the times here).
about 10 minutes later I was at the office. around 2 hours after that I got a text message from my Bank to call them about a suspicious money transfer.
I called the bank and the told me that a few minutes earlier someone attempted to transfer 2000 pounds from my account. Of course my on-line banking was frozen and I was lucky not to loose the money.
Now, during these two hours my phone never rang just the text message from my bank. The bank security employee told me that it looked suspicious to them because whoever was trying to transfer the money asked for the 4 digit number via the automated bank security system to be diverted to another mobile number. The bank advised me to call my mobile carrier as I did.
The mobile carrier , when i talked to him, confirmed that someone called them and accessed my account by giving them all the right info, and requested that every time my phone was out of coverage all calls to be directed to another mobile!
have you guess what was the other mobile?? It was exactly the same mobile number as the pre-set on the ROM which I had installed 3 hours earlier!
And my bank confirmed that the same mobile was used in order to get the 4 digit pin.
I was shocked to say the least!!
When after a few minutes I managed to talk to my girlfriend , she told me that she was calling me earlier for about an hour. These phone calls never made it to my phone. As the phone was pre-setted to call diverting it was ringing to the diverted phone and not mine.
It is obvious that as I do mobile on-line banking and I access my accounts from my mobile (as many do), somehow they managed to get all the information about me and I am suspecting dodgy applications on my phone. I hope I am wrong but this experience has really shocked me.
I love android phones I love what you developers do but I am after you opinion in this one.
I am not here to offend any developers but to have a genuine answer and a sensible discussion about this issue. I am not a kid I am professional and this experience has really made me think twice about smart phones.

nice.! install only trusted ROMs with a lot of feed back
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2

jowett69 said:
nice.! install only trusted ROMs with a lot of feed back
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the miui-rom made by miuiandroid.com is a "trusted rom with a lot of feedback" and has a long history and a community with over 50.000 members.
mtdgr said:
I am suspecting dodgy applications on my phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i think you're right, it wasn't the rom but some malware-/spyware-app.
assuming your phone was rooted, it would be easy for an app to do all kind of bad stuff once it got root-privileges, eg hiding on your sdcard and spying your data and after that establishing the call-divert to catch the 4digit-pin and the rest would be history.
only thing you could do is think what questionable apps with root privileges you installed in the last days before this happened, try to get a copy of it and have a closer look on it, maybe installing it without a simcard inserted or with a simcard without charge on it, to see what happens...
a big piece of luck would be some kind of log from about 1230h to see what established the call-divert, but if i would do such app i would ensure to delete all logs with traces afterwards, but who knows?
though, all of that are just the ideas that came to my mind as i read your post...
good luck for the investigation, would be interesting to know if you could get any information about what happened, so keep us updated, ok?
greetz,
sUsH

It would be difficult for me to know which custom ROM is safe and which one is not! I am not an expert you see. And the same goes with apps. I don't think anyone can state with certainty that any are safe.
It is just shocking to know how easy it is for your details to "escape" !
I will keep you informed about how this goes.
jowett69 If you can tell me how to get that log you are talking about, that would be great.
In the meantime can anyone advise on a descent mobile data protection application? something which will prevent any sensitive data from leaking from my phone? Payware or freeware I don't mind.

some ideas
mtdgr said:
It would be difficult for me to know which custom ROM is safe and which one is not! I am not an expert you see. And the same goes with apps. I don't think anyone can state with certainty that any are safe.
It is just shocking to know how easy it is for your details to "escape" !
I will keep you informed about how this goes.
jowett69 If you can tell me how to get that log you are talking about, that would be great.
In the meantime can anyone advise on a descent mobile data protection application? something which will prevent any sensitive data from leaking from my phone? Payware or freeware I don't mind.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A start might be to check the Superuser app and click on Log and see what apps received su permissions.
Also, from a cmd prompt you can enumerate all the running processes by running:
Code:
adb shell "busybox ps -A > /mnt/sdcard/process.log"
adb pull /mnt/sdcard/process.log
View process.log for anything suspicious, or post it up and I'll have a look.
fluxist

fluxist said:
A start might be to check the Superuser app and click on Log and see what apps received su permissions.
Also, from a cmd prompt you can enumerate all the running processes by running:
Code:
adb shell "busybox ps -A > /mnt/sdcard/process.log"
adb pull /mnt/sdcard/process.log
View process.log for anything suspicious, or post it up and I'll have a look.
fluxist
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think I could do that my friend. As soon as I suspected that something with that ROM was wrong I performed a full wipe and installed omega 9.1 rom.
My question is this. By performing a full wipe should really erase any malware from the previous installation right? Can anyone advise on a descent antivirus/firewall application which will help me (and others like me) monitor and "block" unusual application behavior?

oh and one more question for my information...sensitive personal data can only be leaked when the device is rooted ? if it is not rooted am I safe?

mtdgr said:
I don't think I could do that my friend. As soon as I suspected that something with that ROM was wrong I performed a full wipe and installed omega 9.1 rom.
My question is this. By performing a full wipe should really erase any malware from the previous installation right? Can anyone advise on a descent antivirus/firewall application which will help me (and others like me) monitor and "block" unusual application behavior?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
did you wipe your internal and external sdcards too? how did you wipe? cause it depends where the malware was hiding, if it is erased now or not.
a simple, yet powerful firewall is droidwall. you can find it in the market. put it in whitelist-mode and allow only the stuff you know. but droidwall controlls "only" internet-connections (wifi and 3g or such). for full controll over every permission of every app and connection of your phone you sohuld use pdroid, but i don't know if that's really necessary, though i understand your fear. but if someone really wants to harm you and has some knowledge, there are always ways, i think...
mtdgr said:
oh and one more question for my information...sensitive personal data can only be leaked when the device is rooted ? if it is not rooted am I safe?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
not really, think of those apps you can use to root your device. think a bit further and one could make an app that roots your device and afterwards does the stuff it wants. but seriously, though it is possible, who would do that to you? that's what you should think about...
greetz,
sUsH
ps: cause you did a wipe, there's no possibilty of going through some logs, sry. (though this too depends on the way you wiped and what exactly you wiped...)

I did a full wipe to install the new rom...wipe cache data ...devlink and one more but cant remember it
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda app-developers app

mtdgr said:
I did a full wipe to install the new rom...wipe cache data ...devlink and one more but cant remember it
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
sry, then your try to get rid of the problem also got rid of possible evidence. just try to forget it and be more careful in future with suspicious apps from questionable sources and similar.
greetz,
sUsH

antivirus software for the S8?

Evening all,
Just a quick question, do any of you use anti virus software for your phones? If so which one?
Running

Your finger works as a great anti virus, here's how to use it, when you download that modded candycrush.apk file from cheatersRus.com and you're asked if you want to install this apk file, select NO. There no virus, 100% guaranteed to work.

peachpuff said:
Your finger works as a great anti virus, here's how to use it, when you download that modded candycrush.apk file from cheatersRus.com and you're asked if you want to install this apk file, select NO. There no virus, 100% guaranteed to work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
:laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh:
So true...
Antivirus apps on a phone are so unnecessary and ends up hurting your experience with your device instead of improving your experience.
Just a bit of common sense goes a LONG way folks...

I don't. I used to run 360 for ram clears and storage cleans, specifically the little widget was nice, antivirus was there but meh. Now that you can use stock ram/storage cleaner + it has a widget. So goodbye 360 for me.
That said, I don't really download any apks unless they are listed here on xda.

peachpuff said:
Your finger works as a great anti virus, here's how to use it, when you download that modded candycrush.apk file from cheatersRus.com and you're asked if you want to install this apk file, select NO. There no virus, 100% guaranteed to work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Amen, brother, amen. I get so many friends of mine asking me "why is my phone so slow" and I look at it and they've got 9billion games and 4000 tabs open and facebook messenger (anyone running facebook deserves what they get, sorry, i consider facebook stupid to begin with but honestly, no, YOU DON'T HAVE TO OVERSHARE THAT YOU WENT POOP FIVE MINUTES AGO And, NO, your baby IS really ugly, stop posting so many damn pictures of it). I just happily go ahead and delete about 80-90% of the crap they put on their devices and voila, they're "amazed" that it's "faster" no, it's just not as bloated.

peachpuff said:
Your finger works as a great anti virus, here's how to use it, when you download that modded candycrush.apk file from cheatersRus.com and you're asked if you want to install this apk file, select NO. There no virus, 100% guaranteed to work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok ?
I don't download anything unless it's in the play store or here.
I only asked as I was fiddling with the settings on my phone and one of the options for anti virus.
Running

Currently, I'm using Bitdefender and Disconnect Pro.

Disconnect Pro should suffice just fine. Not really an antivirus, but it will prevent ads from popping up (probably the best ad block I can think of without root).

Go to device maintenance, security, and accept the notification that appears.
Intel Security will now actively secure your device. (No need for any AV from the playstore.)
Now, you can use AdHell or DisconnectPro to enable system-wide ad-blocking using the Knox firewall without root. This should avoid most crapware.
Do not download/install anything that prompts you to enable installation from Unknown Sources.
You're now secure.

Skander1998 said:
Go to device maintenance, security, and accept the notification that appears.
Intel Security will now actively secure your device. (No need for any AV from the playstore.)
Now, you can use AdHell or DisconnectPro to enable system-wide ad-blocking using the Knox firewall without root. This should avoid most crapware.
Do not download/install anything that prompts you to enable installation from Unknown Sources.
You're now secure.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Once Intel Security is enabled, is there any way to disable it again?
Did not find an option for that..
Thanks & best regards!
Michael

peachpuff said:
Your finger works as a great anti virus, here's how to use it, when you download that modded candycrush.apk file from cheatersRus.com and you're asked if you want to install this apk file, select NO. There no virus, 100% guaranteed to work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you didn't know some malware/viruses are on play store that isn't detected by Google. Can't remember if it was recently but 2 million handsets where infected because of apps on play store especially the dodgy ones

pheeos said:
Once Intel Security is enabled, is there any way to disable it again?
Did not find an option for that..
Thanks & best regards!
Michael
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did not try this, but this may work.
Go to settings -> apps -> click the 3 dot menu and click show system apps -> click Device Maintenance.
Clear the data of the device maintenance app.

underdog_656 said:
If you didn't know some malware/viruses are on play store that isn't detected by Google. Can't remember if it was recently but 2 million handsets where infected because of apps on play store especially the dodgy ones
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And since google didn't catch it what makes you think some av software will?

underdog_656 said:
If you didn't know some malware/viruses are on play store that isn't detected by Google. Can't remember if it was recently but 2 million handsets where infected because of apps on play store especially the dodgy ones
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm REALLY confused, you even write, "especially the dodgy ones" yet, WHY would you download the "dodgy" ones? WHY?
It's sort of like, "Don't stick your hand in the woodchipper" You come running a half-hour later and have no hand screaming, "I stuck my hand in the wood chipper". Well, yeah.

peachpuff said:
And since google didn't catch it what makes you think some av software will?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's better than nothing. There might be a possibility for the anti virus.
---------- Post added at 08:29 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:27 AM ----------
sanjsrik said:
I'm REALLY confused, you even write, "especially the dodgy ones" yet, WHY would you download the "dodgy" ones? WHY?
It's sort of like, "Don't stick your hand in the woodchipper" You come running a half-hour later and have no hand screaming, "I stuck my hand in the wood chipper". Well, yeah.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Many people download them if you didn't know. E.g game guides.... that's fine that you don't download these but there are people who do.

underdog_656 said:
It's better than nothing. There might be a possibility for the anti virus.
---------- Post added at 08:29 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:27 AM ----------
Many people download them if you didn't know. E.g game guides.... that's fine that you don't download these but there are people who do.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Honestly, if they're downloading from sketchy sites, they deserve what they get. No one should complain if they KNOW better and do worse.

sanjsrik said:
Honestly, if they're downloading from sketchy sites, they deserve what they get. No one should complain if they KNOW better and do worse.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
M8 we are talking about play store not websites. What's wrong with you people, good for you that you know what sketchy websites are but other people don't e.g older people. Then what's the point of having a antivirus on computer if only you would visit Facebook and not any sketchy websites. So yeah hopefully this shows how stup** ur comment is. I agree with you people should be able you know and website but as I said before they don't...

underdog_656 said:
M8 we are talking about play store not websites. What's wrong with you people, good for you that you know what sketchy websites are but other people don't e.g older people. Then what's the point of having a antivirus on computer if only you would visit Facebook and not any sketchy websites. So yeah hopefully this shows how stup** ur comment is. I agree with you people should be able you know and website but as I said before they don't...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry, when you start name-calling, the discussion ends.

sanjsrik said:
Sorry, when you start name-calling, the discussion ends.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I didn't call you nothing I said ur comment is....
Bruhhhh

Anti virus apps on mobile systems are useless and pointless. They will never detecty anything on android as the malware on android is not made like PC software nor does it act like it.
The biggest cause for slow devices I find are people being lazy and having tons of folders on their home screen with tons of apps in them. Doing this will slow your system down. Also filling more then 50% device storage will also slow the device down.

Still getting popup adds, no aps open

The latest wrinkle in this ongoing problem is ads with soundtracks! They just start going off when I'm on my phone, and if I'm in public they can be really annoying to those around me! I've read the only thread on the subject posted last year where someone suggested an ap call configAPK be found and removed. I did that but I'm stilling ads. Someone suggested hit the Recent key on the navigator in order to find the source of the ad, like what app put it out, but I didn't understand the instruction. Some members even blamed Samsung for doing the, but how would their doing this not simply drive everyone to consider an Apple phone?

mikeacox said:
The latest wrinkle in this ongoing problem is ads with soundtracks! They just start going off when I'm on my phone, and if I'm in public they can be really annoying to those around me! I've read the only thread on the subject posted last year where someone suggested an ap call configAPK be found and removed. I did that but I'm stilling ads. Someone suggested hit the Recent key on the navigator in order to find the source of the ad, like what app put it out, but I didn't understand the instruction. Some members even blamed Samsung for doing the, but how would their doing this not simply drive everyone to consider an Apple phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Some more info that may be of some help.
https://forums.androidcentral.com/a.../901497-full-screen-ads-how-find-culprit.html

spawnlives said:
Some more info that may be of some help.
https://forums.androidcentral.com/a.../901497-full-screen-ads-how-find-culprit.html
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks so much. This will keep me busy for a while!
It's odd that this is going on. Apps are hijacking our phones and getting away with it! Actually, I'm surprised advertisers are doing this. Do they really think people will read their ads, or just get get pissed and boycott!? Half the time I don't even know who the advertiser is because my kneejerk response is instants "delete"!

mikeacox said:
Thanks so much. This will keep me busy for a while!
It's odd that this is going on. Apps are hijacking our phones and getting away with it! Actually, I'm surprised advertisers are doing this. Do they really think people will read their ads, or just get get pissed and boycott!? Half the time I don't even know who the advertiser is because my kneejerk response is instants "delete"!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just in reference to the recent apps method you mentioned it's just another way to get into app settings through settings - apps.

spawnlives said:
Just in reference to the recent apps method you mentioned it's just another way to get into app settings through settings - apps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm still working on the process in the link.
Today I hit the Recent button after a video ad and found BeiTaPlug. I planed to Google it but saw your response and had to check it. Later I saw Smart Scan there, which I know i suspicious, by virtue of having a Scan prefix. I can find the latter but not the former. It appears to be a plug in but where would I find plugins?