How to remove OverlayPhantom from Android devices

What kind of malware is OverlayPhantom?

OverlayPhantom is an Android banking trojan that targets more than 180 banking, financial, and cryptocurrency applications across ten countries. Once installed, it hides under the name "Google Play Services" and overlays fake login screens on top of real banking apps to steal credentials. OverlayPhantom was analyzed by researchers at Cyble Research and Intelligence Labs (CRIL).

OverlayPhantom malware overview

According to CRIL's analysis, OverlayPhantom has been active in the wild since early May 2025 and was uncovered while researchers were investigating government-themed phishing URLs. The trojan is delivered through a dropper application that mimics trusted brands, including the official Austrian government identity application ID Austria and the social media platform TikTok.

After the victim opens the dropper, it shows a convincing fake Google Play services update screen along with a walkthrough that nudges the user into enabling Android's Accessibility Service. Once that permission is granted, OverlayPhantom installs its main payload and hides under the label Google Play Services, so the average user has a much harder time spotting it on the device.

With Accessibility privileges in place, the malware can silently watch what app the victim is using, intercept input, and perform taps and swipes on its own. This is the same trick used by many other Android banking trojans, because once a malicious app is granted Accessibility, removing it becomes very difficult without specialized tools.

OverlayPhantom's signature feature is its overlay attack. The trojan ships with a collection of fake HTML pages that look identical to popular banking, finance, and cryptocurrency apps. When the victim opens one of the targeted apps, OverlayPhantom checks its hardcoded list of package names and displays the matching fake page directly on top of the real one. Credentials typed into that overlay are sent straight to the attackers.

Source code analysis shows that OverlayPhantom targets more than 180 applications spanning users in the United States, Australia, Germany, France, Belgium, Finland, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom. The broad geographic scope and the mix of banking and crypto apps points to a financially motivated actor running a large-scale fraud operation.

In addition to overlays, the malware accepts over 30 remote commands. It can perform taps, double-taps, long-presses, swipes, and custom gestures, open the recent apps screen, change volume and brightness, lock the screen, blank the display with a black overlay, modify clipboard content, and push fake notifications using a target app's icon and name.

OverlayPhantom can also stream the victim's screen back to the attacker in near real time. Using Android's MediaProjection API, the trojan captures the display, scales it down to 540 pixels wide, compresses each frame as a JPEG image, and pushes the result through a TCP connection. This lets the operator watch what the victim is doing and react as it happens.

The trojan talks to its command server over three separate non-standard ports. One channel carries operator commands, another reports device status, and the third handles the screen stream. Splitting traffic this way makes the activity less obvious to basic network monitoring than a single steady connection would be.

In summary, the presence of software like OverlayPhantom on Android devices can lead to drained bank accounts, hijacked cryptocurrency wallets, stolen identity, and serious privacy violations. It has to be mentioned that malware developers often improve upon their software and methodologies. Hence, potential future iterations of OverlayPhantom could have additional or different functionalities and features.

Banking trojan examples

OverlayPhantom shows just how dangerous Android banking trojans have become. Once Accessibility permissions are granted, a single malicious app can read everything on the screen, type and swipe on the user's behalf, lock the device, and overlay convincing fake login screens on top of the real banking apps the victim trusts.

Other examples of Android banking trojans include Massiv, Sturnus, and Klopatra. Cyber criminals constantly refine their tools to stay ahead of mobile security software, so caution about which apps you install and which permissions you grant is essential.

How did OverlayPhantom infiltrate my device?

According to Cyble's research, OverlayPhantom was first observed being distributed from a phishing URL that posed as a download page for ID Austria, the official Austrian government identity application. A second sample was tied to a fake TikTok download targeting users in Spain. In both cases the website tricks the visitor into installing a malicious APK by claiming it is the legitimate app.

Once the dropper is open, it shows a fake Google Play services update screen with a step-by-step tutorial that walks the victim through enabling Accessibility. The combination of a government-grade lure, a familiar app brand, and a fake system update is what makes this campaign convincing enough for users to follow through with the installation.

In general, Android banking trojans spread through phishing pages, third-party app stores, fake software updates, deceptive ads, links sent over SMS or messaging apps, and counterfeit versions of popular apps shared on social media. Treat any prompt to install an APK outside of Google Play with suspicion.

How to avoid installation of malware?

Stick to the Google Play Store for your apps and avoid third-party stores and direct APK downloads from random websites. Before installing anything, look at the developer name, reviews, and the permissions the app asks for. Be especially careful with prompts that ask for Accessibility access, as this is one of the most powerful permissions on Android and is the one that banking trojans abuse the most.

Be skeptical of pop-ups that claim a system component, such as Google Play services, needs to be updated through a download from outside the Play Store. Keep your Android version and apps up to date through official channels, and install a reliable mobile security solution that can detect and block malicious applications. If a website pressures you to install an APK or grant special permissions, close it.

OverlayPhantom hiding on the device under the "Google Play Services" name in the Accessibility settings:

The fake "Google Play services" update prompt, the Accessibility tutorial, and the "Install unknown apps" permission request shown during installation:

Fake bank website overlays displayed by OverlayPhantom:

Quick menu:

• Introduction
• How to delete browsing history from the Chrome web browser?
• How to disable browser notifications in the Chrome web browser?
• How to reset the Chrome web browser?
• How to delete browsing history from the Firefox web browser?
• How to disable browser notifications in the Firefox web browser?
• How to reset the Firefox web browser?
• How to uninstall potentially unwanted and/or malicious applications?
• How to boot the Android device in "Safe Mode"?
• How to check the battery usage of various applications?
• How to check the data usage of various applications?
• How to install the latest software updates?
• How to reset the system to its default state?
• How to disable applications that have administrator privileges?

Delete browsing history from the Chrome web browser:

Tap the "Menu" button (three dots on the right-upper corner of the screen) and select "History" in the opened dropdown menu.

Tap "Clear browsing data", select "ADVANCED" tab, choose the time range and data types you want to delete and tap "Clear data".

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Disable browser notifications in the Chrome web browser:

Tap the "Menu" button (three dots on the right-upper corner of the screen) and select "Settings" in the opened dropdown menu.

Scroll down until you see "Site settings" option and tap it. Scroll down until you see "Notifications" option and tap it.

Find the websites that deliver browser notifications, tap on them and click "Clear & reset". This will remove permissions granted for these websites to deliver notifications. However, once you visit the same site again, it may ask for a permission again. You can choose whether to give these permissions or not (if you choose to decline the website will go to "Blocked" section and will no longer ask you for the permission).

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Reset the Chrome web browser:

Go to "Settings", scroll down until you see "Apps" and tap it.

Scroll down until you find "Chrome" application, select it and tap "Storage" option.

Tap "MANAGE STORAGE", then "CLEAR ALL DATA" and confirm the action by taping "OK". Note that resetting the browser will eliminate all data stored within. This means that all saved logins/passwords, browsing history, non-default settings and other data will be deleted. You will also have to re-login into all websites as well.

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Delete browsing history from the Firefox web browser:

Tap the "Menu" button (three dots on the right-upper corner of the screen) and select "History" in the opened dropdown menu.

Scroll down until you see "Clear private data" and tap it. Select data types you want to remove and tap "CLEAR DATA".

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Disable browser notifications in the Firefox web browser:

Visit the website that is delivering browser notifications, tap the icon displayed on the left of URL bar (the icon will not necessarily be a "Lock") and select "Edit Site Settings".

In the opened pop-up opt-in the "Notifications" option and tap "CLEAR".

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Reset the Firefox web browser:

Go to "Settings", scroll down until you see "Apps" and tap it.

Scroll down until you find "Firefox" application, select it and tap "Storage" option.

Tap "CLEAR DATA" and confirm the action by taping "DELETE". Note that resetting the browser will eliminate all data stored within. This means that all saved logins/passwords, browsing history, non-default settings and other data will be deleted. You will also have to re-login into all websites as well.

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Uninstall potentially unwanted and/or malicious applications:

Go to "Settings", scroll down until you see "Apps" and tap it.

Scroll down until you see a potentially unwanted and/or malicious application, select it and tap "Uninstall". If, for some reason, you are unable to remove the selected app (e.g., you are prompted with an error message), you should try using the "Safe Mode".

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Boot the Android device in "Safe Mode":

The "Safe Mode" in Android operating system temporarily disables all third-party applications from running. Using this mode is a good way to diagnose and solve various issues (e.g., remove malicious applications that prevent users you from doing so when the device is running "normally").

Push the "Power" button and hold it until you see the "Power off" screen. Tap the "Power off" icon and hold it. After a few seconds the "Safe Mode" option will appear and you'll be able run it by restarting the device.

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Check the battery usage of various applications:

Go to "Settings", scroll down until you see "Device maintenance" and tap it.

Tap "Battery" and check the usage of each application. Legitimate/genuine applications are designed to use as low energy as possible in order to provide the best user experience and to save power. Therefore, high battery usage may indicate that the application is malicious.

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Check the data usage of various applications:

Go to "Settings", scroll down until you see "Connections" and tap it.

Scroll down until you see "Data usage" and select this option. As with battery, legitimate/genuine applications are designed to minimize data usage as much as possible. This means that huge data usage may indicate presence of malicious application. Note that some malicious applications might be designed to operate when the device is connected to wireless network only. For this reason, you should check both Mobile and Wi-Fi data usage.

If you find an application that uses a lot of data even though you never use it, then we strongly advise you to uninstall it as soon as possible.

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Install the latest software updates:

Keeping the software up-to-date is a good practice when it comes to device safety. The device manufacturers are continually releasing various security patches and Android updates in order to fix errors and bugs that can be abused by cyber criminals. An outdated system is way more vulnerable, which is why you should always be sure that your device's software is up-to-date.

Go to "Settings", scroll down until you see "Software update" and tap it.

Tap "Download updates manually" and check if there are any updates available. If so, install them immediately. We also recommend to enable the "Download updates automatically" option - it will enable the system to notify you once an update is released and/or install it automatically.

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Reset the system to its default state:

Performing a "Factory Reset" is a good way to remove all unwanted applications, restore system's settings to default and clean the device in general. However, you must keep in mind that all data within the device will be deleted, including photos, video/audio files, phone numbers (stored within the device, not the SIM card), SMS messages, and so forth. In other words, the device will be restored to its primal state.

You can also restore the basic system settings and/or simply network settings as well.

Go to "Settings", scroll down until you see "About phone" and tap it.

Scroll down until you see "Reset" and tap it. Now choose the action you want to perform:
"Reset settings" - restore all system settings to default;
"Reset network settings" - restore all network-related settings to default;
"Factory data reset" - reset the entire system and completely delete all stored data;

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Disable applications that have administrator privileges:

If a malicious application gets administrator-level privileges it can seriously damage the system. To keep the device as safe as possible you should always check what apps have such privileges and disable the ones that shouldn't.

Go to "Settings", scroll down until you see "Lock screen and security" and tap it.

Scroll down until you see "Other security settings", tap it and then tap "Device admin apps".

Identify applications that should not have administrator privileges, tap them and then tap "DEACTIVATE".

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

My Android device is infected with OverlayPhantom malware, should I format my storage device to get rid of it?

In most cases, formatting your storage is not required to remove a malware infection. Running a trusted mobile security application like Combo Cleaner should be enough to detect and remove OverlayPhantom. A factory reset is typically reserved as a last resort if removal attempts fail.

What are the biggest issues that OverlayPhantom malware can cause?

OverlayPhantom can steal banking and cryptocurrency credentials through fake login screens, watch your screen in real time, simulate taps and swipes on its own, intercept input, modify clipboard content, and push fake notifications. The end result is usually drained accounts, stolen identity, and serious privacy violations.

What is the purpose of OverlayPhantom malware?

Most malware attacks are driven by profit. However, the reasons behind infections may also be the attackers seeking amusement, personal grudges, process disruption (e.g., websites, services, etc.), hacktivism, and political/geopolitical motivations. OverlayPhantom appears to be financially motivated, given its targeting of banking and cryptocurrency applications.

How did OverlayPhantom malware infiltrate my Android device?

OverlayPhantom has been seen spreading through phishing websites that impersonate trusted apps such as ID Austria and TikTok. Victims are tricked into downloading a malicious APK, which then opens a fake Google Play services update screen and guides them into enabling Accessibility permissions.

Will Combo Cleaner protect me from malware?

Combo Cleaner is capable of detecting and eliminating nearly all known malware infections. Remember that performing a complete system scan is essential since sophisticated malicious programs typically hide deep within systems.