Google has cleaned its Play Store marketplace of eight other dangerous apps that could seriously cost Android users. In their recent raid, Android makers removed a number of fake cryptocurrency apps designed to sign up victims for expensive subscription services.
The fake apps are supposed to help Android users with cryptocurrency mining and have been downloaded more than 100,000 times from the Google Play Store. This threat was spotted by Trend Micro security experts who said victims could sign up for subscriptions worth nearly £ 150.
The majority of the objectionable apps were free to download, but one was $ 5.99 and the other was $ 12.99.
Commenting on the results, Trend Micro said, “We recently discovered eight fraudulent mobile apps posing as cryptocurrency cloud mining applications that allow users to earn cryptocurrency by investing money in a cloud mining operation.
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“However, when doing some analysis, we found that these malicious apps only trick victims into viewing ads, paying for subscription services that have an average monthly fee of $ 15, and paying for increased mining capabilities without paying anything to get for it. “
Trend Micro reported its results to the Google Play Store, and the apps have since been removed.
Even if the apps were removed from the Play Store if you previously downloaded any of these software installed on your Android device, it is still there. The only way to protect yourself is to remove them yourself. And right now.
Here is a full list of the obnoxious Android apps.
• BitFunds – Crypto Cloud Mining • Bitcoin Miner – Cloud Mining • Bitcoin (BTC) – Pool Mining Cloud Wallet • Crypto Holic – Bitcoin Cloud Mining • Daily Bitcoin Rewards – Cloud Based Mining System • Bitcoin 2021 • MineBit Pro – crypto cloud mining & btc miner • Ethereum (ETH) – pool mining cloud
Although these apps have been removed from the Play Store, Trend Micro said it “found numerous apps of the same type” after searching for cloud mining.
The cyber security experts said there are still “more than 120 fake cryptocurrency mining apps available online”.
Trend Micro has given Android users advice on how to spot fake cryptocurrency apps on the Google Play Store.
Here are the tell-tale signs to look out for …
• Read the app reviews carefully. Fake apps will get numerous five-star reviews once they are released, but don’t let that fool you as they may be bogus and paid reviews. Pay more attention to one-star ratings.
• Try entering an invalid or incorrect cryptocurrency wallet address. After in-depth analysis, Trend Micro found that most malicious examples only process wallet addresses as non-empty values. Therefore, if a user encodes an invalid wallet address and the app accepts it and can perform follow-up operations, there is a high probability that the app is fraudulent.
• Restart the app or phone during the mining process. Most of the mining actions for fake apps are only simulated using local counters. This means that if a device is restarted after mining has started and the mining application is terminated in the background, the system will forcibly clear the counter and reset it to zero.
• Confirm whether there is a withdrawal fee. Transferring cryptocurrency requires a processing fee that is relatively high compared to what is typically associated with cloud mining. Hence, free withdrawals are very suspicious.
