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Why does Chrome open to a scam page

W

wholady

Newbie
I have a cheap ANS UL40 android phone from assurance wireless. I recently got a replacement phone. This new phone has something wrong with Chrome. Whenever I open Chrome instead of going to Chrome home page it redirects to some sort of scammy looking game site. They have an address in the address bar. A few of them are "51.jake game" and "11.mosegame" and "gamebox.zbkon"
I can close these if I tap on the number in a box at the top of the page that says how many tabs I have open. Sometimes it shows all of these are open. There will now be an X at the top right on each one to close it. I can close it and go where I want but the next time I open Chrome it usually does it again.

I have no strange apps installed that I know of. Just to be sure, I have uninstalled every app I can see except the system ones that I can't uninstall and still the issue persists. I have factory reset the phone and the issue persists. Force stopped chrome and restarted.
Cleared cache and data on Chrome settings, cleared history.
Sometimes Chrome will open up to it's own home page after one of these tries but then the next time I open it, the problem is back. Not sure what else to try but it's driving me crazy.
 

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So if you go into the Settings menu of your Chrome app right now, just what is showing in the Home Page option? Is it the home page you want or one of those spammy, junk sites you referred to?
Trying to determine if it's just the Chrome app that's been been compromised or something that's affecting your phone, either some exploit just in your data partition (fixable using either with a anti-virus/anti-malware app from the Play Store, or a Factory Reset), or some exploit that's infected the operating system (which would require flashing with a stock ROM).

Another option is to just disable the Chrome app in your Settings >> Apps menu, and install a different, third-party browser app from the Play Store. I really like the minimalist Firefox Focus browser, but it's definitely not for everyone. There are plenty of choices to choose from that have different feature sets and capabilities.
 
I actually tried looking for the homepage settings in Chrome but seems very elusive at the moment.. I'm also on newest version, if that helps
 
yea, nothing is in chrome settings about home page at all.

I did try factory reset , no joy.
I am willing to try a virus checker, but have no clue what would be the best one.

I may download a different browser just to check it out, but dang, would like to get chrome to work.

I have no idea what "flashing with a stock ROM" is, but I doubt I can do it on this free phone. I would try to get them to send me another phone but I have a strong suspicion that I could be trading one problem for another.

@n0tall0wed :
I did suspect it could be ads on purpose from the provider but they don't admit it. :(
 
Should be right under settings unless the version on you phone removed it.
 

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wholady said:
yea, nothing is in chrome settings about home page at all.
Click to expand...
With the Chrome app running, tap on the three vertical dots icon in the upper right, tap on 'Settings', and then tap on 'Home page' to open it. There should be 'Open this page' showing with something like, "https://www.google.com" or one of those garbage sites.
 
OK guys, home page simply is not in my Chrome settings. My settings looks just like the screenshot n0tall0wed posted, except there is no home page after "notifications" and before "advanced."

But .....
things went from bad to worse, the phone decided to go into an endless loop of asking me to login to my google account, and various google apps started crashing (like "unfortunately Google play music has stopped"). I did try turning the phone off and then on again, and made sure no apps needed update, but no help there. So I went ahead with a factory reset. (again)

After factory reset, so far no problems. Hopefully this time it will stay good.
If not I will take it up with the provider.

Thanks for all the suggestions.
 
Same free phone, ANS UL40 from Virgin Mobile/Assurance Wireless. Definitely having the same of issue for a couple weeks not. Tried AVG antiV and subsequently an adware/malware remover I can't recall which one. Remover discovered an app installed by settings that I'd noticed and suspected as being illegitimate called "OPTIONS MIKE". Mult Google searches prior failed to yield one single result or reference to OPTIONS MIKE & I was glad to see the remover identify and remove it. Same time as all this I noticed several suspect file entries, examplee being similar to "u74dbl.dat, 55fe.dat, ert.dot.one.dat 2279fyz3xydd,
dhfu773ffeu88eyoc etc etc" Some matched search results, but there were too many to keep messing with. Tried site settings, storage cleanup, permissions resets, all over and over and over. Added Adguard recently and Adguard definitely attempts to stop 51.jakegame mosegame similar sounding sites, the .xyz one and the 178.88.3319-80etsque addresses that always appear in the address bar before stopping on 51.jakegame etc. Adguard blocks them, redirects away from them, interferes with them.... It sometimes now will take them 20-30 seconds to eventually get passed Adguard but it ALWAYS eventually gets passed. I try going thru the file logs on Adguard to manually block and add rule but to no avail- they just keep trying until Adguard finally fails. No idea what to try next but it's sickening. 2 days after it first began weeks back by microSD card became corrupted and unrecognizable. I'm pretty sure it's all related. Just got a new card and mounted it yesterday and I'm pessimistic about how long it'll last before it happens again. I need whatever is causing this crap GONE!!!
 
wholady said:
I have a cheap ANS UL40 android phone from assurance wireless. I recently got a replacement phone. This new phone has something wrong with Chrome. Whenever I open Chrome instead of going to Chrome home page it redirects to some sort of scammy looking game site. They have an address in the address bar. A few of them are "51.jake game" and "11.mosegame" and "gamebox.zbkon"
I can close these if I tap on the number in a box at the top of the page that says how many tabs I have open. Sometimes it shows all of these are open. There will now be an X at the top right on each one to close it. I can close it and go where I want but the next time I open Chrome it usually does it again.

I have no strange apps installed that I know of. Just to be sure, I have uninstalled every app I can see except the system ones that I can't uninstall and still the issue persists. I have factory reset the phone and the issue persists. Force stopped chrome and restarted.
Cleared cache and data on Chrome settings, cleared history.
Sometimes Chrome will open up to it's own home page after one of these tries but then the next time I open it, the problem is back. Not sure what else to try but it's driving me crazy.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure what the problem or remedy is, but I also got a replacement phone from assurance wireless same lifeline program and phone and I have the same problem. You're not alone. I hate the gamebox and other ads when opening chrome. I also found that I will get random spam phone calls when it's on chrome and it's redirecting to gamebox or jake or moose game. I found that turning off WiFi and clearing it from the number of pages open at the top works. But it just happens again. sometimes I get random ads which I don't open. I do have one game app, fairway solitaire blast. Also I have a big problem with it closing apps and stopped apps repeatedly which I found out only happens when memory is almost full even after several factory resets. I wish I had never replaced it. If you find anything that works please let me know. You are not alone though it's happening exactly the same to me. Its annoying
 
Nicole828 and Gthing

It's still happening with my phone, even after factory resets and after getting another replacement phone. In fact I got 2 phones in the month of February, because not only do the game sites keep coming up but i started getting a lot of crashing of apps. The last phone was in an endless loop of "Android.phone.com has stopped", and this error message does not let me get into any other area of my phone, could not make calls even.

The latest replacement at least works, but the jake games and moose games and others keep coming up.

I did try a different browser. I tried "brave" which is similar to firefox but has some ad blocking built in. This keeps the game sites away sometimes but eventually they come back, have to clear history, and as Nicole said, clear all the pages that stay open.

I have not tried the "adguard" yet but will.

One thing the last phone tech at assurance wireless told me: they are starting a new program that if you have problems with your phone 3 times in a short period and need replacement (3 times) they will send a different model phone the next time.
Not sure why that will help, but maybe there is something in these cheap refurbished ANS models that's doing it.

If the issue persists for me thru march I will try that.
This is getting really old, all the resets, starting over from scratch.

I know people think it's something we are doing to make it happen, but this happens sometimes directly after a new phone or a new factory reset, even before I install any apps or go online to any websites.

Very discouraging.
 
wholady said:
I have a cheap ANS UL40 android phone from assurance wireless. I recently got a replacement phone. This new phone has something wrong with Chrome. Whenever I open Chrome instead of going to Chrome home page it redirects to some sort of scammy looking game site. They have an address in the address bar. A few of them are "51.jake game" and "11.mosegame" and "gamebox.zbkon"
I can close these if I tap on the number in a box at the top of the page that says how many tabs I have open. Sometimes it shows all of these are open. There will now be an X at the top right on each one to close it. I can close it and go where I want but the next time I open Chrome it usually does it again.

I have no strange apps installed that I know of. Just to be sure, I have uninstalled every app I can see except the system ones that I can't uninstall and still the issue persists. I have factory reset the phone and the issue persists. Force stopped chrome and restarted.
Cleared cache and data on Chrome settings, cleared history.
Sometimes Chrome will open up to it's own home page after one of these tries but then the next time I open it, the problem is back. Not sure what else to try but it's driving me crazy.
Click to expand...

Thanks for posting this to make me figure out a fix. (So I hope)
I've been plagued by this very issue . I'm using the very phone and making this post about 30mins after using the below method
Go to Google play, Download - Clean Master Lite (5mb file)
CM is something I install on computers for friends and family.
Side note: AD Guard requires installing separate browser
Run CM through all options just to clean up phone .
*Beware of APKs being side loaded. CM, by default, deletes obsolete APKs*
I didn't delete any data through device settings. Only cleared Google Chrome (Privacy/ clear browsing data) history, cache & Site data.
Closed all open pages so I'm looking at blank chrome screen. Closed chrome.
Restarted phone .
Opened chrome after restart and seen chrome home page for first time .
Try it out and let me know if it works for you .
Will update if it reverts back

**update
It reverted back to those pages again. Must be part of free service on phone and random advertising. Guess I need another browser
 
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Well I tried the adguard. It makes you install either yandex or samsung internet browser. it didn't help though, the same pages just come back after opening the internet a few times.
I tired clean master lite, same result.

I have tried several browsers now too, and they all do the same thing, One thing I will say is Brave browser and Samsung browser both let me change the home page but that had no effect, it still opens p to the game sites at least half the time.

I am going to do one more factory reset but this time not back it up from my previous account, see if that makes a difference.

I will see if assurance will send a different model phone, but I suspect they are doing it to us on purpose.
 
Clean Master is the product of Cheetah Mobile, a company who openly admit that their revenue comes from monetising the data of people who install their apps. I would regard them as part of the problem rather than a solution.

If stuff comes back after a factory reset then there are only 3 possibilities: you subsequently go on to visit the site that's causing the problems (and so reinfect yourself), you restore the problem via your backup, or the problem is linked to something that's part of the phone's pre-installed software.
 
UPDATE: Those of you who have the ANS UL40 will want to hear this:
Assurance wireless will now replace that phone with a different model if you continue to have problems with it, and have complained enough.
They just sent me a new phone. I wasn't real happy to see it is still an ANS phone, but it is a newer model, a bigger phone, and may have updated software that could work better.
It is ANS L50apb.
So far I can't properly review it for you since I only got it today, but it has a bigger screen, a better camera, a little better display.
Since it's a little bigger phone, it doesn't fit in my pocket as nice, so I may have to search for a case for it. It measures about 5 3/4 X almost 3" and the screen is about 4 1/4" x 2 1/2".
One bad thing is I can't find any info on it online, and no manual, it must be either fairly new or it;s like a generic version of something else. Like, maybe it's an LG L50 or something.
So far so good as how it's working, I am browsing online and no redirects so far. No error messages. I will try to upload a photo of it here if anyone's interested. I could not find a link to it anywhere online.

If you are still having problems with the UL40, I urge you to call and complain, and ask if you can get a different model.

edit: just noticed another positive, it has a replaceable battery, the UL40 did not. (Not that I will be able to find a replacement battery if I need one, but I didn't like that the battery was not supposed to be removed on the UL40.)
 
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@PitCarver YES! That's it. I had not thought to look on YouTube, thanks.
He didn't really know any more about the phone than I do, but the video shows it for anyone who wants to know.

he said at the end of the video that you can upgrade to a better phone with Assurance by buying a phone and that is so, but he said $25 and I think that varies by what state you are in. He said he is in California. In Florida, the phones they showed me would range from $84 up to $200. So I need to stick with the free one.
 
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