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Run Run Chicken spam

Twice now I've gotten spam on my phone advertising a game called Run Run Chicken. It may be coming by text message, since the Messaging icon shows in the notification bar at the top of the screen. But when I go to Messaging there's no new message. When I pull down the notification screen and tap on the notification, it takes me to the Google Play store page for this game.

It's kind of annoying (esp. since I pay per message), and frankly I suspect any free game that's advertised this way has probably got something devious and wrong in it. None of the Play store reviews indicate anything wrong about it, though.

Is anybody else getting this spam? Is there any way to stop it, since I can't tell for sure where it's coming from?

Comments

PJNC284

Could be an app you have installed that is using air push. Try using https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=pl.byq.airblocker to detect if there's an app doing it. Won't be able to block it but you'll know which app to get rid of.

Dave-in-Decatur

Thanks for the tip. I downloaded it and ran it, but it did not find any app using Airpush. But that in itself is good to know!

demmo86rt

Lookout network ad detector may also help (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lookout.addetector&feature=nav_other#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDYsImNvbS5sb29rb3V0LmFkZGV0ZWN0b3IiXQ..). This one will tell you if an app is using any sort of push notification ads, not just Airpush. It does also show admob (in app ads) and others, so you have to select any that it shows to find out how the ads are presented.

Dave-in-Decatur

Thanks, demmo, Lookout Ad Network Detector is a GREAT app. It did not find any apps that were pushing ads to the notification bar (so the Run Run Chicken mystery remains), but it did locate 4 apps using AdMob to collect location information and helped me opt out of AdMob's ad targeting. It also found apps using AdMob (the same 4) and Millennial (2 apps) to collect device or network info.

I was aware of all these apps and I know that they won't function at all without some advertising, since they're ad-supported. I accepted that, knowing how good I am at ignoring ads!

Of the small number of apps on my phone doing this kind of advertising, the only one I hadn't intentionally installed was Slacker Radio -- another good reason not to use that piece of bloatware. Lookout Ad Network Detector, as I understand it, does not detect actual activity by these apps (Slacker Radio is not running without my knowledge and collecting information; obviously it can't advertise to me if I never use it). It only detects apps that have the potential to do a variety of annoying or harmful things if you use them.

Thanks for the tip!

garyvestal1

I have a tool : apkanalyser-5.2-exec.jar , which is download available from Sony website.

with this apkanalyser,I found that Go Keyboard do have "Notification Ads" there.

if you are good at computer, you can scan the 3rd party apps first with "apkanalyser-5.2-exec.jar" and then install it on your devices.

or you can use "apktools" to remove the Ads. I notice there are some apps which you can used to "patch" to remove ads.

I use the "Lucky Patcher ".

Dave-in-Decatur

I'm sure I could understand how to do that, but I don't think I'm interested in investing the time. The annoying ads are fairly infrequent and (as far as I can tell) harmless apart from the annoyance. But it is good to have it confirmed which app is causing the problem. I sent a complaint to the maker of GO Keyboard, so we'll see if they respond.

TamaraH_VZW

Dave-in-Decatur if you were receiving the message via text you would be able to forward the suspected SPAM message to 7726.

Note: There is no charge for this text message.

Result:You will receive a free text message requesting the identity of the "From" address on the suspected SPAM message. From that point he investigation will begin the same day the messages are sent to the short code, but the customer will not receive any further updates.

If it is coming through as an ad on the device, then it is more than likely coming from an application that is installed on your phone. I had the same thing happening to me and once I installed "Air Push Detector" it told me which app was causing the ad. Once I removed the app, no more annoying pop ups on my device.

Tamara H.

Dave-in-Decatur

Thanks, Tamara. As noted in the thread above, it did turn out to be an app that was pushing ads to the Notification bar. After Anthony Roberts suggested a possible app, I downloaded an app called Addons Detector, which flagged the offending app (GO Keyboard). For now, I'm going to live with it, since the app is something that I truly need. If the ads become frequent, though, I'll have to make a change.

garyvestal1

Just find that the "Go keyboard" read contacts on your device, is that safe?

demmo86rt

Most likely it's fine, I use the Swype keyboard, and I noticed that I can successfully swype names of contacts (including those with unusual spelling and last names) without having to first tap them out and save to the user dictionary. In order to do this, it would have to read my contacts (and it does include that in the permissions). I would imagine that Go Keyboard is the same. BUT... this is all purely speculation, and if you don't feel comfortable with it having that permission, you'll have to uninstall it.

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