Trojan virus on my phone

Adammatt22 wrote:

i have been told by my bank to message here. i clicked on a dodgy link and there may be a trojan virus on my phone, the bank confirmed there was, what can i do

As for your iPhone, it’s fine. You met an advertisement, likely for a sketchy privacy-invasive add-on app, and amusingly usually for an app that won’t even address the (bogus) “trojan virus” originally claimed.

Some background on common scams:

https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-250009533

https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-250003457

Retail banks are arguably insurance providers and investment advisors and advertisers with a sideline in cash handling. Banks are not usually known as IT security resources.

PS: the advertisement worked, too. Just look at your own concern here, and how you now want to verify and are considering install some security tools. Tools just like that advertisement was offering, too! (Amazing coincidence, that.) All of the “trojan virus” ads and other ads with words like “hacker” are intended to cause fear. Advertisers know how to manipulate their audience. Assuming you installed nothing, your iPhone is just fine.

Websites cannot scan your iPhone. If websites could do that, scans being deeply intrusive, they’d just directly pillage everything on your device, and not bother with the subterfuge.

It is impossible for your bank to confirm that there is a virus on your phone.

The bank is simply guessing (incorrectly).....and trying to get you off the phone.......by providing you with information that cannot be true.

Simply clicking on a link will not install anything on your phone. After you clicked on the "link", exactly what did you do?

If you saw a message that there was a "Trojan virus" on your phone, it was a lie, presented by criminals who want to scam you. They are hoping that you will panic and either

• Pay for useless software and services that will do nothing to handle the non-existent "Trojan viruses", or
• Contact scammers posing as "tech support", etc., so they can rip you off more directly.

Keep the iPhone updated to the latest iOS always and never Jailbreak. That's it.

iOS / iPadOS devices cannot be infected with Viruses / Malware / Spyware *** unless you have intentionally downloaded spurious software or unauthorized apps directly from the internet and installed them on your device, and/or have Jailbroken. 

It (Hacking) also depends on how careful you are in sharing sensitive and valuable information pertaining to your iPhone such as Passcode, Password, etc with your friends and family members.

Be judicious when sharing the device's sensitive and valuable information with friends and family members.

**The primary reason for this is Sandboxing. All third-party apps are “sandboxed”, so they are restricted from accessing files stored by other apps or from making changes to the device. Sandboxing is designed to prevent apps from gathering or modifying information stored by other apps.

Security of runtime process in iOS and iPadOS - Apple Support

The sandbox on an iPhone is a security feature that creates a restricted environment for each app to run in isolation from other apps and the operating system. It is a core component of iOS's security architecture and plays a crucial role in making iPhones more secure.

• Believe the authenticity of the information provided earlier.
• It is impervious to virus, malware, or spyware attacks.

Just as some individuals hold unconventional beliefs, such as a flat Earth or moon landing denial, one has the freedom to believe in anything. The choice ultimately rests with you in this open and free world.

Whoever told you that at your bank clearly has no idea what they are talking about.

There is no such thing as a "trojan virus". Trojans and viruses are two completely different things.

The only way you could get either one is if you have jailbroken your phone and installed apps from outside of the App Store.

Adammatt22 wrote:

i filled in a few details like a mug and it took me to a blank page, then i realised it was most likely a scam

Your “few details” are the central issue. What details were those? Passwords, maybe? Something else?

i still need help to understand why Apple App store allows apps such as Microsoft Defender that claim to help in web link security risk. I chose iOS for personal security but spent much time on Android because I believe my contacts do not believe iOS is superior forcing me to find out how to share via Google ecosytem without impairement to risk level

also Apple website "Don't follow links ... in suspicious or unsolicited messages". IMHO There is excessive learning curve in technology beyond layman.

Your phone can't be infected with anything simply by clicking on a link. Assuming you have not jailbroken your phone.

Assuming you did not provide any of your Apple Account details, you do not have a virus on your phone.

Sunnyintoronto123 wrote:

i still need help to understand why Apple App store allows apps such as Microsoft Defender that claim to help in web link security risk.

Apple permits apps to claim pretty much anything that’s legal, and allows most anything other than apps breaking local device security, and a few other specific areas. They kinda have to, too.

Review the following Apple document for the specific things not permitted:

• https://developer.apple.com/app-store/review/guidelines/

As for add-on security apps, those can use VPN interfaces and access network connectivity, and that data can be personally-identified and resold. That data or metadata re-sale usually legally permissible so long as it is noted somewhere deep in the app EULA.

Installed apps cannot scan local storage.

Remote websites cannot scan your device, or your network traffic.

Websites can fingerprint devices, and can potentially gain some clues such as installed apps or visited links.

As for the scams and the rest, advertisers (and propagandists) can lie, and advertisements and propaganda are embedded all over the place, and things that don’t look like advertisements or propaganda are advertisements. Or propaganda.

I chose iOS for personal security but spent much time on Android because I believe my contacts do not believe iOS is superior forcing me to find out how to share via Google ecosytem without impairement to risk level

No non-trivial platform is free from risk.

Efforts toward increasing the platform security are trade-offs too, with the highest security typically either immensely expensive, difficult to use, or more commonly both.

also Apple website "Don't follow links ... in suspicious or unsolicited messages". IMHO There is excessive learning curve in technology beyond layman.

What would you suggest here?

One alternative being to permit only authorized sites, and even that is not completely reliable as trusted websites can get breached, and watering hole attacks are a thing.

Another alternative being to try to scan all traffic, and that’s been both less than completely effective, and the apps themselves being in a privileged position themselves become targets for malware and for exploits.

And the attacks themselves are increasingly phishing and such, as the underlying gear is getting incrementally harder to exploit, particularly with add-ons such as passkeys and password managers and multi-factor authentication all intended to reduce the efficacy of phishing.

And the cherry atop this gloriously fetid mess inevitably degenerates into the fight to control these “trusted” channels and with the calls for internet licenses too, which can all become fodder for disenfranchisement and propaganda and influence and espionage operations, this all either overtly, or by simply de-emphasizing or omitting “undesirable” content.

This is a hard problem. Welcome to 2026, where everybody is IT.