A new breed of Android malware is sneakily launching expensive subscriptions on affected devices. It concerns eight apps that have been installed more than three million times. We show you which apps you should remove from your smartphone right away.
New malware
A new family of malware apps has been discovered in the Google Play Store and one that could cost its victims a lot of money. All eight apps involved start a premium subscription behind the user’s back. They have been spotted by security researcher Maxime Ingrao from Evina, you know that Bleeping computer.
The malware that came with these eight apps was dubbed “Autolycos” and it was tipped off to Google by the researcher in June of 2021. It took another six months before the apps were removed from the Play Store. Two of the apps (“Funny Camera” and “Razer Keyboard & Theme”) were still available in the application store until a few days ago.
These are the apps
If one of these apps is installed on your phone, it is better to uninstall them right away. In addition, also check in the Play Store whether or not you are subscribed to a service without knowing about it. To do this, press the profile icon in the Google Play Store and then Payments and Subscriptions. You can read more about canceling a subscription for an app in the Google Play Store here.
Here’s the full list of malware apps:
- Vlog Star Video Editor (com.vlog.star.video.editor)
- Creative 3D Launcher (app.launcher.creative3d)
- Wow Beauty Camera (com.wowbeauty.camera)
- Gif Emoji Keyboard (com.gif.emoji.keyboard)
- Freeglow Camera 1.0.0 (com.glow.camera.open)
- Coco Camera v1.1 (com.tomore.cool.camera)
- Funny Camera (com.okcamera.funny)
- Razer Keyboard & Theme (com.razer.keyboards)
In the month of June, we also wrote about 11 malicious apps. Some attempted to steal users’ credentials by displaying a fake Facebook home screen, while other apps changed app icons to avoid being noticed.
Another notable threat was on WhatsApp. On the basis of a phone call, malicious people try to take over accounts. In a recent AW Poll, 8.52 percent of readers said they have already been a victim of malware. Do you have any of these apps on your phone? Let us know in the comments.
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– Thanks for information from Androidworld. Source