Is it a secondhand or refurbished phone?
It is probably not connected but this is in today’s news.
One billion Android devices at risk of hacking https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-51751950
I saw that news earlier but no, it was a new phone, a cheap new phone.
It was just a thought.
The problem I had with something similar I traced back to ex BiL😠 when he used my laptop.
When I had to have the hard drive changed no more carp 
The only thing you are likely to lose is text messages and downloaded music etc. All your emails, contacts, etc will be in the cloud (google or apple)
You don’t need a professional to conserve your data!
Just think about exactly what is on your phone and what you need to keep including any apps you need to redownload and doing a factory reset is likely to fix it. There are lots of techy people on SF who can walk you through it.
I would be tempted to add the apps one by one and not add the next one until you know that a particular app isn’t causing the problem.
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Thanks. Wow, what a pain having to change the hard drive.
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Put a reliable antivirus package on it and make sure it has been fully scanned
Google how to turn notifications off in the browser(s) and turn them all off (if you have “removed malware” it is probably notifications that are causing the problem). Go through the installed apps and delete any you don’t want/need.
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It’s mainly the contacts and texts I am worried about losing and not looking forward to writing down! I can do the reset, no probs. Good advice about the apps, thanks.
Excellent advice, thanks.
The HD needed to be changed.
Only then and other factors did I find out the reason for the carp.
Sometimes cheap tablets come with all kinds of crap pre-installed that you can’t get rid of. It’s why they’re cheap.
Don’t know if they do that with phones too.
Never heard of porn websites pre-installed though!
So thankful that my phone successfully sends and receives call and messages… and nothing else… nothing nasty… phew… 
To an extent, it’s one of the reasons I have so far favoured Motorola phones - almost completely stock Android with no “embellishments”.
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I use AVG antivirus for android. It’s the free version so you do get ads. Not had any problems so I guess it works.
Contacts should be fine and there is a way to keep your texts (I think?) but I am definitely NOT the person to ask as I have lost them every time I’ve changed phones!
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Usually, this is almost always either from a sideloaded app that has managed to exploit a weakness in an existing app, e.g. a game, or utility app, or your default phone browser, or else via some website that looked innocuous and was somehow otherwise compromised to exploit the weakness in the phone’s browser app. They can be incredibly difficult to get rid of, depending on how old your phone is, and whether or not Samsung has released a system security update for the phone recently that you might be able to install over what you have already.
It is usually possible to make a backup of your settings, data, and even installed apps before you do a complete system wipe and re-install. Pretty certain that Samsung allows for this kind of thing (at least, from memories of an old Samsung phone I had years ago). It certainly might be worth a try.
EDIT : I would add that the security model on older Android phones was pretty crap, and even with newer phones, if the manufacturer doesn’t provide access to deep security settings (I can’t speak for Samsung), fine grained control of what an app can or cannot do can be difficult to achieve.
…and consider this. Resetting the phone as @cat suggests may actually be the lesser of all the evils you are suffering now or will continue to suffer in the future.
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On the old Samsung phone I own I have the option to save both contacts and emails to the SIM card not the phone’s memory.
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Thank you everyone, a lot of sound advice and help there. I will see if I can sort this out now.
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Yikes. Terrifying.