Google with help of a little girl found out scam apps
By MYBRANDBOOK
A few scam apps on Google disguised as useful that looked like wallpapers, music or entertainment apps. A little girl from Prague helped security researchers to find and flag seven scam apps on the Google Play and the Apple App Store.
As per the reports, these apps were downloaded more than 2.4 million times, and the creators of these malicious rogue apps made more than Rs 3.7 crore before being deleted
Shockingly, these apps were promoted on Instagram and TikTok and were primarily targeted at children. These apps were managing to stay hidden successfully until this girl reported a TikTok profile promoting one of the apps to Avast's Be Safe Online project in the Czech Republic. This project from Avast educated kids on how to stay safe online.
Avast examined the apps and revealed that these ads were aggressively displaying and charging users between $2 and $10 to remove them. The apps provided simple games that "just make the device vibrate, wallpapers or music," Avast said. Some of the applications were HiddenAds Trojans masked as a secure application but displaying intrusive advertisements.
These ads were served outside the app, and the original app icon was hidden so that users couldn't figure out where the ads were coming from. The hidden icons also meant that these apps were difficult to detect and uninstall, furthermore, these apps were displaying ads even when they were not being used.
After the security researchers were alerted, they notified both Apple and Google. As per reports, Google has already removed the apps, although Apple has yet to respond.
TikTok and Instagram users with millions of followers were promoting these apps to entice people to install them, and the researchers found multiple profiles with between 5,000 and 3.3 million followers who had promoted these apps.
One of Avast's threat analysts praised the girl's presence of mind, noting that it was particularly concerning that these apps are being promoted on social media platforms that are popular with children. Young children who are mostly unaware and unable to recognize the red flags surrounding these malicious apps and fall victim to them.
BREAKING NEWS
TECHNO TRENDS
Nazara and ONDC set to transform in-game monetization with ‘
Nazara Technologies has teamed up with the Open Network for Digital Comme...
Jio Platforms and NICSI to offer cloud services to government
In a collaborative initiative, the National Informatics Centre Services In...
BSNL awards ₹5,000 Cr Project to RVNL-Led Consortium
A syndicate led by Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (abbreviated as RVNL), along wi...
Pinterest tracks users without consent, alleges complaint
A recent complaint alleges that Pinterest, the popular image-sharing platf...
E-Magazine
TECHNOTAINMENT
Netflix adds 'Moments' feature for saving, sharing scenes from
Netflix has introduced a new “Moments” feature on its mobile app, whic
Jacqueline Fernandez come together with YouTuber Mr. Beast for
Jacqueline Fernandez has partnered with American YouTuber Mr. Beast to b
MOVERS & SHAKERS
Visa elevates Rishi Chhabra as new Country Manager for India
Rishi holds a Master’s in Industrial Engineering from The Ohio State Univ
Genesys welcomes Albert Nel as Senior VP and Regional Sales Le
Genesys continues to deepen its investment in the APAC region. Earlier this
OPEN YOUR EYES
INTERVIEWS
Alpha Max offers high end solutions in the network space to en
The vision at Alpha Max is to attain quality as the trademark and create a
Acer addresses evolving customer needs by consistently pushing
Acer offers a comprehensive range of products under one roof, including des
HOT PICK
SonicWall Launches TZ80: A Powerful Solution for Remote Office
SonicWall announced today the launch of the TZ80, a groundbreaking securit
Gigabyte X3D Turbo: A Gaming Revolution
GIGABYTE X3D Turbo Mode is a cutting-edge feature that unifies cores distr
MAKE IN INDIA BRANDS
MICROTEK INTERNATIONAL PVT. LTD.
MATRIX COMSEC PVT. LTD.
INFOSYS TECHNOLOGIES PVT. LTD.
DATA SAFEGUARD INDIA PRIVATE LIMITED
EMINENT CIO'S OF INDIA
ICONS OF INDIA
Icons Of India : NANDAN NILEKANI
Nandan Nilekani is the Co-Founder and Chairman of Infosys Technologies...
Icons Of India : Arundhati Bhattacharya
Arundhati Bhattacharya serves as the Chairperson and CEO of Salesforce...
ICONS OF INDIA : SANTHOSH VISWANATHAN
Santhosh Viswanathan is the the Vice President and Managing Director f...
PARTNER SPEAKERS
PSU
C-DOT - Center of Development of Telematics
India’s premier research and development center focused on telecommu...
NIC - National Informatics Centre
NIC serves as the primary IT solutions provider for the government of ...
LIC - Life Insurance Corporation of India
LIC is the largest state-owned life insurance company in India...
VIDEOS
Top 25 Brands
Global Indian industry
Indian Tech Talent Excelling The Tech World - George Kurian, CEO, Netapp
George Kurian, the CEO of global data storage and management services ...
Indian Tech Talent Excelling The Tech World - JAYASHREE ULLAL, President and CEO - Arista Network
Jayshree V. Ullal is a British-American billionaire businesswoman, ser...
Indian Tech Talent Excelling The Tech World - Sanjay Mehrotra, CEO- Micron Technology
Sanjay Mehrotra, the President and CEO of Micron Technology, is at the...
STARNITE AWARDS 2024
ITFORUM 2024
CMO of the Year
WOMEN LEADERSHIP
IMAGE GALLERY
TRENDS IN TECHNOLOGY
MORE VIDEOS
ADVERTISEMENTS
TECHNOLOGY DISRUPTION
UNICORNS REVOLUTIONISING
