Malware or malicious apps are commonplace right now. Despite Apple and Google’s efforts for removing these apps, they still creep their way back to these app stores every now and then. According to a recent find from Cybersecurity software company Avast, 151 Android apps were part of a premium SMS scam campaign. The scam campaign, dubbed UltimaSMS used fake Android apps to sign up people for expensive SMS services.
These 151 fake apps have been downloaded over 10.5 million times in more than 80 different countries. The apps disguised themselves as tools across multiple categories like custom keyboards, QR code scanners, video and photo editing apps, call blockers, games, and more. Each of these app followed the same pattern – once installed, the smartphone’s location, IMEI number, and phone number are checked to discover the area code and language to use.
These malicious apps were using prompts for asking users their phone number and sometimes their email address. This information is then used to subscribe the user to premium SMS services without their realisation. These charges are somewhere around $40 (roughly Rs 3,000) or more per month.
Now, the apps are found to either stop working, or offer more subscription options to users after duping them. The main problem here is that even if a user uninstalls these apps, they will still be charged the subscription fee that they were signed up for.
Avast, in its report, created a list of all 151 apps that are a part of this. Users who have these apps on their smartphones are advised to delete them immediately, and check their bank/ credit card statements for any unusual charges. All 151 apps are mentioned here for you to see if you may have them.
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