MalWareBytes https://blog.malwarebytes.com/android/2020/01/united-states-government-funded-phones-come-pre-installed-with-unremovable-malware/ FORBES https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2020/01/09/us-funds-free-android-phones-for-the-poor---but-with-permanent-chinese-malware/#654ac7ababe4 BBC https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-51054901 Android/PUP.Riskware.Autoins.Fota.fbcvd, a variant of Adups, a China-based company caught collecting user data, creating backdoors for mobile devices and, yes, developing auto-installers. Historically Adups tools have been caught siphoning off private datafrom phones, including the full-body of text messages, contact lists and call histories with full telephone numbers. --It’s with great frustration that I must write about another unremovable pre-installed app found on the UMX U683CL phone: the mobile device’s own Settings app functions as a heavily-obfuscated malware we detect as Android/Trojan.Dropper.Agent.UMX. Because the app serves as the dashboard from which settings are changed, removing it would leave the device unusable. A second malware comes preloaded on the Assurance Wireless-supplied device—the phone’s own Settings app, Collier claimed. Though it operates like a typical Settings application, it proceeds to install malware known as HiddenAds, he added. Previous MalwareBytes research showed this malicious tool would -- throw up aggressive advertising on the infected phone. As the Settings app is vital to the functionality of the device, it can’t be removed without turning the phone into a useless brick.