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The fraudulent Android apps were disguised as camera filters, QR code readers and keyboard apps.
Google has removed more 151 apps from the Play Store in the past few days. The reason: all the removed Android apps were part of a wide-scale scam.
The 151 apps were downloaded a total of more than 10.5 million times in 80 different countries. The fake apps were disguised as keyboard apps, QR code readers, video and photo editing programs, camera filters or games. The full list of affected apps can be found here, as well as in the info box below:
Subscription trap
The scam worked similarly for all the affected apps: once installed, the device’s IMEI number, location, phone number and other sensitive data was transferred.
Afterwards, the mail address and phone number were requested for confirmation. All this information was used to sign up for a premium SMS service that cost users $40 per month.
Fake apps advertised on social media
Even if the affected apps were deleted, the subscription remained active and charged users the monthly fees, which were usually deducted from the cell phone contract bill.
- source: futurezone.at/picture:pixabay.com
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