Malicious Minecraft apps on Google Play
Since August 2014, die-hard fans who like to play their favorite game on Android devices have reportedly been targeted by hackers by downloading cheat apps for the game, but in reality, the apps were intended to convince them that their devices were infected with malware.
According to ESET researcher Lukas Stefanko , over 30 such apps «have sprouted» on Google Play, after that first one, which had been installed by over 600,000 users.
The apps are fake – they do not do what they promise to do. Instead’ of that, they display banners claiming the device has been infected with a «dangerous virus,» and guide users on how to remove it.
While victims believe they are activating an antivirus app to remove the dangerous virus (one of the fake apps fakes the G Data logo), they are actually giving their consent to activate a premium-rate SMS subscription that costs 4.80 euros per week:
«All scareware apps behave in a similar way, the only differences lie in the names and icons of the applications. They were uploaded to the Play Store from different developer accounts, but we assume that all the apps were created by a single individual,» according to Stefanko's statement.
Despite the poor reviews and the negative comments, a significant number of users downloaded these fake apps. «According to public data from the Google Play store, many of these apps were installed between 100,000 – 500,000 times and the total number of installations of the 33 scareware applications is between 660,000 and 2,800,000 times,» noted Stefanko.
Google has been notified about this, and has removed the apps from the Play store.
