Fake Phone Cleaner, Booster and Antivirus Apps through an app

How it looks through an app, the red flags and what to do.

The app is the scammer's way in: it can read what is on the screen, collect contacts and push you to pay. Fake Phone Cleaner, Booster and Antivirus Apps is one of the ways this shows up: Cleaner, booster and 'virus removal' apps promise speed but fill your phone with ads or ask for powerful permissions. Learn what to avoid.

What fake phone cleaner, booster and antivirus apps looks like through an app

• An app outside the official store that asks for many permissions.
• A screen-sharing or remote-control app that a caller asks you to install.
• A loan app that asks for contacts and photos.

The set-up is a store listing or an outside link for an app with a promise of faster speed, longer battery life or protection from viruses. The listing uses glowing reviews and screenshots of a scan. Once installed, the app shows a fake scan with large numbers of 'issues' that increase each time you open it. A button says 'Fix all', which leads to a paid upgrade or a request for more permissions.

Red flags to check on the app

• An app finds dozens of threats at the first scan and urges you to pay.
• It asks for accessibility, notification or display-over-other-apps permissions.
• Ads appear on your lock screen or outside the app.
• A free trial hides a weekly subscription.
• The app does not come from the official store listing of the company.
• It asks for accessibility, screen overlay, SMS or contacts without a clear reason.

What to do

1. Uninstall cleaner or booster apps and use the phone's built-in storage and battery tools.
2. Check your permissions list and remove special access you do not need.
3. Cancel subscriptions in your store account and ask your operator to stop any bill-based charges.
4. Open Settings and check Accessibility, Device admin apps and Install unknown apps for anything you do not recognise.
5. Change the passwords of your bank and email from a clean device if the app had access.
6. Run a phone scan (Safeavio Sentinel lists risky apps and settings).

Report the fake app to the store it came from and, if money moved, call 1930 and report at cybercrime.gov.in.

If money or a code is already gone

1. If you paid for a subscription, cancel it in your store account and request a refund through the store.
2. If card details were shared, call your bank on the number on your card and ask them to block it.
3. Call 1930 and report at cybercrime.gov.in if money was taken without consent.
4. Remove the app and change passwords if it had broad permissions.

National Cyber Crime Helpline: 1930; report at cybercrime.gov.in.

Phone scan in Safeavio Sentinel reviews installed apps, requested permissions and risky settings, and highlights apps that ask for more access than they need, so you can see whether a cleaner is overreaching. It also flags apps outside a store and apps that look like copies of other apps. Safeavio does not speed up your phone and does not remove software by magic; it tells you what looks wrong and how to fix it.

Full guide: Fake Phone Cleaner, Booster and Antivirus Apps: how it works, signs and what to do. Other channels: social media, SMS, WhatsApp.

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