• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

Help Possible spyware?

Hello,

Since yesterday, websites I visit on my Samsung Galaxy S4 Chrome try to randomly download an APK file called mobogenie_1501.apk. Webpages that trigger this are very random. It happened on Metacritic today. I get the following message "This type of file can harm your device. Do you want to keep mobogenie_1501.apk anyway?" So I tap cancel.

I reverted back to the original "no apps besides the ones in Play Store" setting, but that did not change anything.

Also, I was reading on Feedly. I tapped an article to visit the website (the Wowhead website, to be specific) in Feedly's in-app browser, and I got a popup menu asking me if I wanted to visit Mobo Market.

In the meantime, I upgraded to 4.3. That, of course, did not change anything, either.

I googled Mobogenie. It looks like a legitimate remote management app, but it's definitely not legitimate to have it try to auto-download by itself when I visit random websites.

This surely cannot be a very intrusive way to advertise "Mobo" apps and the marketplace. I'm pretty sure somehow someone or something is trying to access my phone but I have never seen anything like this before. Has anyone ever had an issue like this? Am I just better of wiping my phone and starting from scratch?

Thanks in advance for all input.

PS. I have two screenshots of the APK trying to auto-download in two websites, but no screenshot of the "Visit Mobo Market" dialog box. I cannot post the images because I'm a new user.
 
Welcome to the forums, domatespatates!

You should be able to post the screenshots now. Although I'll be the first to admit I have no idea what is going on here, I'm gonna keep an eye on this thread because I'm curious. Hopefully someone will chime in with more helpful info soon. But go ahead and post those screenshots, if you wouldn't mind :)
 
Upvote 0
You should be able to post the screenshots now.

Thanks a lot. I attached the two screenshots I have. If I come across the "visit Mobo Market" dialogue again, I'll definitely grab a screenshot. I'm very curious to understand what's going on as well. That's why I still didn't wipe my phone. Hopefully someone might point me in the right direction to find the source of this problem.
 

Attachments

  • 1462831_10151944379975677_1751457087_o.jpg
    1462831_10151944379975677_1751457087_o.jpg
    267.1 KB · Views: 139
  • Screenshot_2013-11-15-03-22-59 copy.jpg
    Screenshot_2013-11-15-03-22-59 copy.jpg
    386.6 KB · Views: 144
Upvote 0
It's Instashare. I'm quite sure it has nothing to do with the problem. I've been using it a very long time and this APK thing started only yesterday (or maybe two days ago already).

I also want to note, though off-topic, that I wouldn't advise anyone to use Instashare. It was great during beta, but since they've gone on the Play Store as a paid app, it's been incredibly unreliable with virtually no support. Just wanted to make sure that I wasn't advertising for this incompetent thievery :p
 
  • Like
Reactions: GuitarG20
Upvote 0
Hi domatespatates.

When you get the message saying the apk is trying to install is there also a message on your notification panel if you pull it down. If there is long press on it and it should give you the option to select app info which will tell you which app if any is causing the problem.

I did not pull down the notification panel. I will next time when it happens and see if there's anything there. But the notification bar didn't anything anyway (as you can see in the screenshots).

Also, the app causing the problem is basically Chrome at this point since that's the one trying to download the APK. I'll still check the panel next time. Thank you.
 
Upvote 0
Hi there I hope I can be of some help.

Since you say chrome is basically causing the problem have you tried clearing any data on chrome to see if this prevents the problem?

I'm not sure I know what that means exactly, but right now I went to Settings/Privacy and tapped Clear Browsing Data. Do you suggest I do anything else?

Also, to be clear, I don't "really" suggest Chrome is the problem here. But what happens is, when I'm surfing the web, Chrome asks me if I really want to download the APK file (as if I clicked a download link). When I said Chrome is the problem, I meant that I cannot see how another app might be causing the trouble.
 
Upvote 0
This thread over on xda forums seems to shed more light on the issue which seems to have reared its ugly head in the last 48 hours or so...

Mobogenie_1501.apk downloads by itself

Mobogenie can be downloaded from the Play Store...

Mobogenie Market

Wow! Thank you so much for this. I could come up with nothing when I searched for mobogenie on Google. If nothing, it's really good to know that this is not a problem that infects just me. I'm sure someone more savvy than me will find out soon what this is all about. It looks like really nasty stuff, though. I hope I won't tap "accept" by mistake until this is resolved :p

I skimmed the thread there. Apparently this happens on any browser and not just on Chrome.

I will follow the linked thread, but please feel free to keep posting here if you feel the need.

Thank you all very much.
 
Upvote 0
Wow! Thank you so much for this. I could come up with nothing when I searched for mobogenie on Google. If nothing, it's really good to know that this is not a problem that infects just me. I'm sure someone more savvy than me will find out soon what this is all about. It looks like really nasty stuff, though. I hope I won't tap "accept" by mistake until this is resolved :p

I skimmed the thread there. Apparently this happens on any browser and not just on Chrome.

I will follow the linked thread, but please feel free to keep posting here if you feel the need.

Thank you all very much.
looks like you also have 28 browser tabs open.... i would think it is just trying to download from one of the tabs that are open(might still be on the original "mobo" site. try closing them all :)
 
Upvote 0
looks like you also have 28 browser tabs open.... i would think it is just trying to download from one of the tabs that are open. try closing them all :)

Gulp...
I was like, THIS IS THE DUDE WHO'S GETTING INTO MY PHONE!
Then I remembered I posted screenshots :rolleyes:

Those tabs have been open for months. Never had this happen.
Don't judge me. I have problems letting go :vroam:
 
  • Like
Reactions: Metroid Prime
Upvote 0
closing them all should definitely fix the problem though:)

You say "definitely" but I'm sure it has nothing to do with the problem. As I said before, something similar happened on Feedly's in-app browser too, where I (of course) had no tabs open. If you check the link to the XDA Developers thread, you'll see that something else is going on and affecting a lot of people.
 
Upvote 0
You say "definitely" but I'm sure it has nothing to do with the problem. As I said before, something similar happened on Feedly's in-app browser too, where I (of course) had no tabs open. If you check the link to the XDA Developers thread, you'll see that something else is going on and affecting a lot of people.


The message that is seen on your screen is generated from the browser...so...the browser is generating the download...if the browser wasn't generating the download, you wouldn't see the message....so 99% chance that closing all the browser tabs will fix the issue...

However, there could be an app on your phone which is causing a tab to open in your browser, also causing the prompt :)

You might want to try downloading the app "network connections" , it will give you an idea what apps are sending out data to where.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.antispycell.connmonitor

Another thing you might want to try is "clearing the defaults" for the browser in the application settings screen(settings>apps>chrome>clear default), this way you would be prompted with what app "you want to complete the action" with, it might point you in the right direction.
 
Upvote 0
^ +1 Yes, clearing the data on chrome should hopefully be a fix for this as it will go back to the way it was when you first opened chrome and since the app keeps trying to download that apk doing that should stop it. Go to Settings > Applications > Chrome Browser and hit clear data. It really beats doing a factory reset and starting fresh. :(
 
Upvote 0

BEST TECH IN 2023

We've been tracking upcoming products and ranking the best tech since 2007. Thanks for trusting our opinion: we get rewarded through affiliate links that earn us a commission and we invite you to learn more about us.

Smartphones