Potential scam from storage cleaner app on game

Mere clicking on a link or downloading an App from App Store does not affect much. Do not divulge any personal credentials. You are safe till then.

Clicking on links merely sends a response to the server hosting the link that a human is present. They can't do anything else except to keep sending such links again and again in the hope that you may give out some info.

1. Don't share sensitive information pertaining to your device and payment methods
2. Beware of Phishing

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

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

If you doubt the authenticity of the information provided earlier, you have two alternatives:

1. Report the hacking incident to local law enforcement authorities and actively pursue the case.
2. Accept the credibility of the information; it is impervious to hacking. 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.

Those messages are presented as ads by games and apps. While annoying and can cause some users to download and then subscribe to some useless service, the ads themselves are harmless. If you have deleted the game and subsequently downloaded app, and not subscribed to any offered service, you should be fine.

Mazdamanuk wrote:

I was using my phone at the airport on an insecure network and when I got home I started getting the messages saying my storage was almost full and I was at risk of losing control of my phone , it also said I had been on 14 inappropriate sites.

How would whoever sent the message know which sites you had visited? Sounds a bit like these scams:

U.K. National Cyber Security Centre – Sextortion phishing scams: How to protect yourself

"The criminals behind these attacks do not know if you have a webcam, or know if you've visited adult websites. They are attempting to scare their victims into paying a ransom, and will send millions of emails in the hope that someone will pay."

I ignored it for a while but it started to say things were getting worse then they’re was the offer of a free clean sweep app which looked ok and might have had the App Store logo or very like it so I eventually downloaded it

Copying and pasting graphics associated with a legitimate company – without permission – is an old scammer trick. If you ever receive fraudulent Web notifications on your Mac, ones that saying "Your iCloud is hacked!!!", "Your system has 28 Trojan viruses. Click here to remove", etc., chances are that the messages will be tagged with copies of the System Settings icon, the better to trick you into thinking that your Mac, or Apple, sent them.

I don't think the "cleaner" app or the game could have accessed sensitive data on your phone (like, say, cards in Apple Wallet; or information in the Health app). However, if you allowed either to have access to things like your photos, your location, etc., the apps could have tried to gather information about you that way. (Since you didn't run the "cleaner" app, it couldn't even have asked you permission for such access.)

Note that if you took out an auto-renewing subscription to a "cleaning" "service", deleting the bogus app from the phone might not be enough to cancel the subscription. If you did purchase a subscription and did it via an in-app purchase, see: If you want to cancel a subscription from Apple - Apple Support .

Hello~ How did you “download” it to your iPhone?

~Katana-San~