Scareware App Downloaded Over a Million Times from Google Play
Summary: Unit 42 found an Android antivirus app called "AntiVirus for Android™" in Google Play that displayed hard-coded fake threat detections to push users toward a $4.99-per-month premium subscription, and the app had been downloaded between 1 million and 5 million times. Unit 42 reported it to Google on January 20, and Google removed the app two days later; the developer was listed as CTG Network Ltd.
What you should know: The app carried a 4.0 average from 16,531 reviews and ranked in the top 30 grossing Tools apps in the US, Japan, France and South Korea, so store ratings and rankings gave no signal of the fake detection code sitting underneath.
Read the original at Unit 42 Palo Alto Networks ↗
- Topics
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