12 Android Apps Found Stealing Money and Bombarding with Ads
12 Android Apps Found Stealing Money and Bombarding with Ads – Over 2.2 Million Affected
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12 Android Apps Found Stealing Money and Bombarding with Ads
Breaking News! | 12 Android Apps Found to Harbor Trojan Viruses, Scamming Users and Bombarding with Ads – Over 2.2 Million Affected.
A new wave of malicious Trojan apps has infiltrated the widely used Google Play store for Android users.
These apps bombard users with intrusive ads and secretly steal phone data while automatically deducting money.
The affected apps include both utility and gaming applications, with a global download count surpassing 2.2 million, causing significant harm to unsuspecting users.
According to the latest report from “Bleeping Computer,” as cited by “Dr. Web,” a batch of malicious applications was discovered on the Google Play store in September. These apps hide three types of Trojan viruses: “HiddenAds,” which frequently display intrusive ads, “Joker,” which steals phone data and secretly subscribes to high-cost services, and “FakeApp,” which redirects users to investment scam websites.
Among them, “HiddenAds” had the highest download count, mainly disguising itself as four gaming apps. One game app named “Super Skibydi Killer” exceeded 1 million downloads, while “Agent Shooter” and “Rubber Punch 3D” each had over 500,000 downloads. “Rainbow Stretch” also had more than 50,000 downloads.
“Dr. Web” uncovered several software applications in the Android market infected with Trojan viruses.
Here are the 12 disguised apps found by Dr. Web:
- Super Skibydi Killer (1 million+ downloads)
- Agent Shooter (500,000+ downloads)
- Rubber Punch 3D (500,000+ downloads)
- Rainbow Stretch (50,000+ downloads)
- Eternal Maze (50,000+ downloads)
- Jungle Jewels (10,000+ downloads)
- Stellar Secrets (10,000+ downloads)
- Fire Fruits (10,000+ downloads)
- Cowboy’s Frontier (10,000+ downloads)
- Enchanted Elixir (10,000+ downloads)
- Love Emoji Messenger (50,000+ downloads)
- Beauty Wallpaper HD (1,000+ downloads)
Once users download these apps, the Trojan viruses replace the app icons with a fake “Google Chrome” or transparent icon, making it difficult for users to notice. The viruses operate secretly in the background and generate a multitude of ads on the phone’s browser through remote code execution.
Additionally, Dr. Web identified eight apps harboring the “FakeApp” and “Joker” Trojan viruses, including “Eternal Maze” and “Love Emoji Messenger,” each with over 50,000 downloads, totaling more than 210,000 affected users.
Google Play has already removed these problematic apps. However, Dr. Web advises users who have previously installed these apps to promptly uninstall and delete them, as well as conduct antivirus scans on their devices for security assurance.
