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Random Contacts Appearing

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ynot2k

Lurker
Howdy - just going through my contacts today (something i don't do very often) and noticed that two random contacts had been added without my permission. Both are obviously spam or some other type of malicious intent. The contacts only have an email address.

I'm wondering if there is a way to view a contact history, or at least detect how a contact got added: date & time and/or the application that added it. As the contact also appears now on my gmail account, i would like to also be able to see the same info in gmail (likely synced from my phone or vice-versa for that matter).

lastly, any recommendations on a good virus or trojan scanning tool? i typically don't download very much or do any other kind of high-risk activities, so this is got me kind of spooked.

thanks, ynot2k
 
virus or trojans don't really exist for android, nor would they work without you giving them permission.

First off, the most important is, what apps have you installed and where did you get those apps.

Second, are you syncing to Gmail? Those contacts may have been saved to Gmail, so it will just sync to your phone.
 
all installed apps are coming from the android market.

and yes i am syncing with gmail so it could have originated from gmail (which is why i would like to see contact history on gmail as well).
 
Go to Gmail on your PC browser. I think it can trace there the last emails those contacts sent you if you did not delete them yet.
 
none of the contacts have any history of email being sent or received.

are there no functions or anything else to dig deeper into android itself to see when/how contacts are created? any apps that do that?
 
I am having the same problem with my Google account.

No way I have been hacked as I use the two-step verification on all my devices.

Three random SPAM like contacts appeared in my Gmail / Andorid contact list. I did not add them or have ever communicated with these people.

Any ideas?
 
These contacts are harmless. They are related to e-mails received/sent in Gmail based on your entire history. This happens frequently, but is easy to work around. In the contacts app, hit menu, display options, and turn off "Contacts with e-mail only." I'm sure there is a way to remove them entirely, but this is enough of a solution for my needs.

This is nothing to worry about and is supposed to be a convenience feature from Google.
 
ExtremeNerd said:
These contacts are harmless. They are related to e-mails received/sent in Gmail based on your entire history. This happens frequently, but is easy to work around. In the contacts app, hit menu, display options, and turn off "Contacts with e-mail only." I'm sure there is a way to remove them entirely, but this is enough of a solution for my needs.

This is nothing to worry about and is supposed to be a convenience feature from Google.
Click to expand...

I don't think they are anyone I ever communicated with or got an e-mail from. They were SPAM like addresses. The only thing that comes to mind is I have gotten SPAM chat requests on Google+ and have hit block on the chat feature.

Would blocking someone that is trying to chat with you add them to your contacts? They are just e-mail addresses. What bothers me is they go in "My Contacts", which syncs to my phone.

I don't see how they got in my contacts and I believe I shut off any type of auto-add contacts feature in gmail already.




They were like:

shineyblue442@jabber.org

xonbela_lady445@jabber.twb1.com
 
Maybe a friend or family member had your google account synced with their phone. So when they add a contact, it'll appear on your phone. Could be a possibly, happened to me before
 
nehalpatel said:
Maybe a friend or family member had your google account synced with their phone. So when they add a contact, it'll appear on your phone. Could be a possibly, happened to me before
Click to expand...

Nobody in my family has any phone or access to my account.

It is very strange...
 
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