Fake Android app found on Google Play Store which increases download count and rating of other applications.
Android Operating System app store, Google Playstore has some fake Android apps with over 50,000 installations. This isn’t the first taste to malware and attacks.
According to Researchers at global IT security firm Quick Heal Technologies reports, the app store listed several fake Android apps that didn’t provide their listed offerings.
The fake apps listed on the store, tricks people to download and rate other sponsored apps, Quick Heal Claims. And these apps has over 50,000 installations.
These apps were confirmed to be fake, because the applications prompt users to download and rate five star to sponsor apps in order to unlock this application.
Anyways, after installing other application and rating, the user would be able to use the PDF reader after 24 hours.
Rupali Parate, an Android malware analyst at Quick Heal claims that “These applications appear to be genuine as a PDF reader, PDF Downloader, PDF Scanner etc., but don’t have such functionality,”
Parate wrote all his claims in a blog post, where he also noted that these applications prompt users to download and rate five star to sponsor apps in order to unlock this application.
He also listed some steps, procedures to stay safe on the internet and from fake mobile apps:
1. Check an app’s description before you download it.
2. Check the app developer’s name and their website. If the name sounds strange or odd, you have reasons to suspect it.
3. Go through the reviews and ratings of the app. But, note that these can be faked too.
4. Avoid downloading apps from third-party app stores.
5. Use a reliable mobile antivirus that can prevent fake and malicious apps from getting installed on your phone.
In the blog post, he also added “But after 24 hours, the same loop starts. It asks users to login with some created password and asks them to download the same application to unlock the application.”
After all, this isn’t the first time, Google Playstore is vulnerable to attackers, malware and other associated virus etc.
