DHL scam app

[Ceecee76]

Yes, I'm that stupid. 

Currently waiting on a package and so fell for it and now I cant get the app off my phone.

It has change default sms to dhl and won't go back to messages. Have tried:

Uninstall as usual

Removed from play store.

Removed permissions

No matter what I do it just keeps defaulting back and is still on my phone. 

Samsung customer services said I have to to a factory reset as there is nothing else to be tried but that they don't recommend reinstalling WhatsApp, messages, pics, videos, files and docs etc

Needless to say, I'm not keen to do this. 

Anyone any ideas? 

I'm desperate 

[GeorgeB1]

yes I did the same. There seems to be no way it will let us uninstall and it has sent the text to all my contacts. I suppose i'll have to bite the bullet and reset to factory settings. 

[JAMES4578]

Think in these situations it will be necessary to factory reset the device.    The advice is to only restore a back up  that was created before you installed the  scam app.  For future   reference ensure Google Play protect is enabled  https://support.google.com/googleplay/answer/2812853?hl=en-GB 

See more from the  National Cyber Security centre https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/guidance/flubot-guidance-for-text-message-scam 

[Inglyaffected]

Has anyone found a fix for this?

[Thylacine]

I had my elderly neighbour over with the same issue, message app had changed to the DHL one. Every time I tried tapping the 'back' button (samsung S5) for a split second it showed me that it was asking if it was ok to make the DHL message the default message app. After remembering where the 'cancel' was on the screen I kept on going in to the message app and then 'back' (the '<') and trying to be super fast to hit the spot where the 'cancel' is .... eventually I got it but it still didn't work.

Running a security check didn't pick anything up.

She had never done a back up and reading up on it, signing in to anything once the DHL app had installed was a security breach risk, creating an account to do a back up and resetting the phone to then lose all contacts and pics wasn't an option she wanted to face.

Solution which worked without needing to do a reset :

Went in to the settings - Apps - then the 3 dots and found the 'default apps' - messages (which showed the DHL as default app). When I tapped it it said that 'you can't change system processes' .. or something like that. Once again though there was a split second that I could see the options available.

I went back in to settings - apps - (not the 3 dots this time) found the DHL spam app, went to uninstall it and again was confronted with the "cannot change bla, bla, bla" message but again, the split second, and I do mean a very, very quick split second, where I could see the option to delete before it automatically went back to settings.

Repeat the process and remember where the option to delete the app was on the screen for that split second and to try and tap that spot before it disappeared. It eventually worked and I was able to delete the app. Message app returned to normal and on restarting the phone there was no sign of the DHL app.

All up it took about 25min fumbling around but got there in the end. Her phone was a Samsung S5 so not sure if it'll be the same for everyone but hopefully this 'split second' viewing of options before disappearing off screen works for others, got to be quick with your screen tapping.

Good luck.

[Danielle286 · Accepted solution]

Hey Ceecee76,

I'm not sure if you found a solution but I figured it out. Basically you want to go to settings, go down to privacy, go into permissions. It should show that the DHL app has full permission of your phone. Disable it. Then you'll be able to uninstall it. Fingers crossed this helps if needed.

[Sadlariken]

Yeah this worked, thanks for helping haha

[Hoho de]

Hi there! Also installed the app, finally managed to uninstall it. Once i ive done that is it over?

[Aklima]

Hi, It should be.

[Mcjaggered]

Go to settings then to privacy. There should be something near the top saying 1 app has full access or something like that. Click on it, and disable DHL. This will revoke it's permissions, so you can then uninstall the app. Also, after uninstalling the virus app go through your messages to make sure you didn't send any messages (the app may send messages itself). 

[C T ifma DG]

Hi none of the suggestions in this thread worked for me,and i really didnt wanna do thr whole factory reset thing...

But I did discover something that did so wanna chsre in case anyone else is suckered like me (doh!)

Go to Apps > General Management > Reset >

Select: Reset accessibility settings

.. this will make it so that the app stops doing that annoying split second flash a d you can then uninstall from Apps menu 😀