My Galaxy S24 Ultra suddenly kept opening YouTube and playing Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up" when I arrived at a local mall. I'm careful about links and apps, and I wasn't connected to Wi-Fi. I disabled Bluetooth and Quick Share, scanned for malicious apps with Google Play's security tools, and found nothing suspicious. The behavior stopped as soon as I left the area. Should I be worried about malware, and what might have caused it?
2 Answers
This doesn’t sound like typical malware, especially since it only happened in one location and stopped when you left. A nearby NFC tag, kiosk, display, or other device could have sent a YouTube link to the phone. NFC normally works only at very short range, though, so your phone would usually vibrate or show some indication when it detected a tag. It could also have been a local Bluetooth or casting interaction rather than a compromised phone. Make sure Android and YouTube are updated, review installed apps and permissions, and temporarily disable NFC and nearby-device features if you return to that area.
The fact that it stopped outside the mall is reassuring. Check Google Assistant routines, Samsung Modes and Routines, YouTube’s connected devices, and any Bluetooth or casting history. If nothing looks familiar, restart the phone, install system updates, and reset network settings. A factory reset is probably unnecessary unless the behavior starts happening in other places too.
NFC would generally need to be within a few centimeters, and the phone would often vibrate when it detected the tag. Since there was no vibration, it may have been a nearby device or an unusual mall display setup instead.