Rooting or Modding Your Phone for 'Free Premium' Offers over the phone

How it looks over the phone, the red flags and what to do.

Callers pretend to be bank staff, police, a courier, a telecom officer or a relative, and they try to keep you on the line while you act. Rooting or Modding Your Phone for 'Free Premium' Offers is one of the ways this shows up: Videos and chats promise free premium apps or faster phones if you root or modify your device. It weakens security and opens the door to theft.

What rooting or modding your phone for 'free premium' offers looks like over the phone

• An unknown or international number, or a number that looks like a real office.
• A calm, official voice that already knows your name or the last digits of your card.
• Being told to stay on the line and not to tell your family.

The set-up is a tutorial or a group that shares a tool, a modified app store or a special file. It claims to unlock features, remove ads or bypass payment. To follow the steps you must switch on developer options, allow installs from unknown sources and sometimes disable built-in security checks. These steps are the same ones that a scammer needs to put hidden software on your phone.

Red flags to check on the phone call

• A tutorial says to disable security settings to get free premium features.
• You must allow installs from unknown sources and turn on developer options.
• A helper asks for remote control of your phone.
• The tool or app comes from a chat link or an unknown site.
• The caller wants you to install an app to "fix" something.
• The caller asks for an OTP, UPI PIN, card PIN or CVV.

What to do

1. Do not root or modify your phone because of an online offer.
2. Keep your phone's built-in security settings and updates on.
3. Install apps only from a store you trust, and pay for premium features through official channels.
4. If you already installed an app on the call, uninstall it and switch on airplane mode, then call your bank at once.
5. Tell a family member and report the number on the Sanchar Saathi portal (Chakshu facility).
6. Hang up. A real bank or office will not mind that you call them back.

Report the number on the Sanchar Saathi portal (Chakshu facility). If money moved, call 1930 immediately.

If money or a code is already gone

1. If you paid or money was taken, call 1930 and report at cybercrime.gov.in.
2. Call your bank on the number on your card and ask them to protect your account.
3. Remove the modified apps and change passwords from a different, safe device.
4. Reinstall the official system software or visit an authorised service centre.

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

Phone scan in Safeavio Sentinel checks risky settings, including a rooted device, unknown sources and developer mode, and reviews installed apps and permissions, explaining what looks wrong and how to fix it. It also flags apps outside a store and apps that look like copies of other apps. Safeavio cannot make a rooted device safe, so restoring the official software is the real fix.

Full guide: Rooting or Modding Your Phone for 'Free Premium' Offers: how it works, signs and what to do. Other channels: social media, fake app, WhatsApp.

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