Another storm of malicious apps is taking place inside the Google Play Store and because of it, this time gamers are in danger in real life as cybercriminals are targeting something the gaming community truly loves - Minecraft.
Avast, a leading digital security and privacy products provider, has claimed that there is a range of "fleeceware" applications available on the Play Store that offer new skins, colorful wallpapers, or modifications for the Minecraft game. So when a user decides to buy anything from them, the apps charge them hundreds of dollars for every item per month. According to the company, there are still seven apps active on the platform and maybe Google is unaware of the issue.
For the ones who don’t know, fleeceware is the latest addition to the crimes that take place in the cyber world. Bad actors offer their targets attractive services as a part of the trial period (usually three days) and then start charging $30 per week automatically without the consent of users. These fraudsters are also well aware of how a user can easily forget an installed application or the short trial, therefore, they catch onto such an opportunity with the help of subscription cost.
Overall, these apps are getting 1 to 5-star reviews which means that either people are liking it or they absolutely hate the app. There is nothing in between but the aggregate score of the app is very low.
Ondrej David, malware analysis team lead at Avast, has explained the effectiveness of the attack by stating that such scams often cause great damage only because they target users who don’t really read the fine print details of any app that they are downloading - such as children.
It has been said many times before that the best way to protect yourself from any kind of scam is by going through the user reviews and billing information before you download any app from an unknown developer.
Avast has already reported the following fleeceware apps to Google Play and if you have installed any one of them by mistake, then it is about time that you first uninstall the app and then cancel the subscription as well by going to Play Store → Menu in the upper left corner → Subscription.
Avast, a leading digital security and privacy products provider, has claimed that there is a range of "fleeceware" applications available on the Play Store that offer new skins, colorful wallpapers, or modifications for the Minecraft game. So when a user decides to buy anything from them, the apps charge them hundreds of dollars for every item per month. According to the company, there are still seven apps active on the platform and maybe Google is unaware of the issue.
For the ones who don’t know, fleeceware is the latest addition to the crimes that take place in the cyber world. Bad actors offer their targets attractive services as a part of the trial period (usually three days) and then start charging $30 per week automatically without the consent of users. These fraudsters are also well aware of how a user can easily forget an installed application or the short trial, therefore, they catch onto such an opportunity with the help of subscription cost.
Overall, these apps are getting 1 to 5-star reviews which means that either people are liking it or they absolutely hate the app. There is nothing in between but the aggregate score of the app is very low.
Ondrej David, malware analysis team lead at Avast, has explained the effectiveness of the attack by stating that such scams often cause great damage only because they target users who don’t really read the fine print details of any app that they are downloading - such as children.
It has been said many times before that the best way to protect yourself from any kind of scam is by going through the user reviews and billing information before you download any app from an unknown developer.
Avast has already reported the following fleeceware apps to Google Play and if you have installed any one of them by mistake, then it is about time that you first uninstall the app and then cancel the subscription as well by going to Play Store → Menu in the upper left corner → Subscription.
