Recently, my dad asked me to download an APK for WhatsApp from what he claimed to be a trusted source. I was hesitant but went ahead with the download. When I tried to open the app, it redirected me to a Play Store-like page prompting for an update, but it claimed the update was not secure, so I didn't proceed. I went into my file manager and deleted the app. However, just last night, I noticed my phone's battery dropped from 40% to 10%, and upon checking the battery usage, I saw that the same app had consumed 78% of the battery. I force stopped it again and deleted it. Shortly after, a strange app named "com.mkelewx.mafpskj" appeared on my screen, and I can't interact with it at all. I'm really worried and need advice on what to do next.
2 Answers
If you didn't download that APK from the Google Play Store or the developer's official site, it could be malicious. You might want to run a scan using Malwarebytes (available on the Play Store) or just reset your phone to factory settings. If you have the original download link, you can check it on VirusTotal to see if it's flagged as harmful.
It's probably best to do a factory reset on your device to ensure that app is completely removed. Once reset, change your email passwords too, just in case anything was compromised.
Thanks for the help. I did the factory reset and now everything is fine.
Yeah, it seemed malicious. I went ahead with the reset, so thanks for the advice!