Image fb.bin.png in android

[tredfr456]

Every time I open the "paypal android app" there is an image created in my documents:"fb.bin.png". Do we know what that is?

[PayPal_Tricia]

Hi @tredfr456, 

Hmm, that's odd. 

Have you tried deleting the app and reinstalling it? That usually resolves any issues. 

I hope this information helps!

Thanks, 
PayPal_Tricia

[tredfr456]

Hello @PayPal_Tricia I did and it is the same. I heard that this is a problem with "venmo" too. When opening it as a .txt file it is a small string of numbers and letters with "-".

[W9JYD]

Sorry @PayPal_Tricia but nope. Doesn't work. This is a serious issue YOUR developers MUST address. It's a frequently asked question in r/techsupport, r/PayPal, r/Venmo and r/Android on Reddit but this supposedly canned response from a moderator doesn't solve it. I have searched Google and Reddit has a LOT of posts about this but PayPal Community only has one result in Google and it is to the German PayPal Community... And this is the only post found here. Reddit post: https://www.reddit.com/r/paypal/comments/q5koht/people_with_paypalvenmo_finding_self_restoring/ It's a 36 byte file. The extension (.BIN.PNG, bin meaning binary image/core dump, and png is a graphics file) reeks highly of malware. Anyone who remembers the ILOVEYOU virus of the 1990s had an attachment with .doc.vbs (The last part was hidden by Windows), a self-executing Visual Basic script.... Remember that when developing. Please pass this to your developers. But the "tip" offered by "@PayPal_Tricia" is useless. The Reddit post has a LOT of concerned users.

[Michelle_22]

So Paypal's response is we don't care? How do we stop this from creating?

[Steven_JH]

I do not know the specific purpose/function, but I suspect it might work in a similar fashion to "cookies". IF YOU CHANGE THE FILENAME BY ADDING ".txt" TO THE END OF THE FILE: suddenly the contents become readable as an alphanumeric text string. eg) fb.bin.png ---> fb.bin.png.txt ... reveals file contents that look like: e7980609-bc8c-4e49-aa5f-181724b10d32 Every "fb.bin.png" file will contain a unique string. For example, I have several of these files in the Documents directory, usually with "(1)"/etc appended. I do not know if this is from PayPal or another organisation. I DO know I did not voluntarily download the files. The string could be a unique identifier for security purposes, or it may be the hash of an encryption, etc. So many possibilities. Could be benign, could be nefarious... Not enough information to draw a conclusion. Regards Steve

[helgastroman]

The file "fb.bin.png" is most likely a cache or temporary file created by the PayPal android app. This type of file is often used by apps to store images, text, and other data that can be accessed quickly without having to load them again from scratch.

It's possible that this file was created as part of an update to the PayPal app or as a result of some changes made to your device's software or settings. While it shouldn't cause any harm, if you're concerned about it taking up space on your device or causing any issues with other apps, you may want to consider clearing the cache for the PayPal app in your device settings.

To do this on Android, go to Settings > Apps & notifications > See all apps > PayPal > Storage & cache > Clear storage/clear cache. Note that this will also clear any saved login information or preferences associated with the app, so you may need to re-enter this information when you next use it.