If it’s too good to be true, it probably is! In case you missed it, Dr. Web anti-virus published a report on Friday revealing several malicious entries it discovered inside the Google Play Store in October.
One threat that caught our eye, however, is a gnarly app that tricked users into thinking they could make money by watching videos and advertisements. It attracted a whopping one million downloads on the Google Play Store, but the truth is, the app is designed to make cybercriminals money on the backs of victims’ time and effort.
Delete ‘TubeBox’ now
Dr. Web anti-virus discovered a handful of nasty apps on Google Play, including Fast Cleaner & Cooling Master (a trojan masquerading as a performance booster), Volume, Music Equalizer (adware pretending to be an audio app), and Bluetooth & Wi-Fi & USB driver (adware posing as a Bluetooth connection enhancer).
The most sinister app among Dr. Web’s threat discoveries, however, is the TubeBox app, which, as mentioned, amassed more than one million downloads. It claims that users can earn money by watching videos and advertisements. For each view, users collect a “reward” (i.e., coins and coupons). After collecting enough rewards, the app claimed that they could be converted into real money via bank transfer and other payment systems.
But here’s the kicker! When users tried to cash out their rewards, they suspiciously faced hindrances due to certain “problems” reported by the program. “The creators of the app tried to string their victims along for as long as possible so that they could continue watching videos and ads, earning money not for themselves, but the fraudsters,” Dr. Web said.
In other words, the malicious actors threw users off their scent by putting roadblocks in the redemption process that deceptively seemed like temporary errors. TubeBox users could have spent hours watching videos thinking that their efforts would be rewarded with real cash, but little did they know that they were actually earning money for cybercriminals. Ouch!
When BleepingComputer checked to see if TubeBox was in the Google Play Store on Dec. 4, it was still there, but as of this writing, it was removed from the Android app store.
Before downloading any app, make sure to pore over the reviews to see if anything raises your antenna (watch out for fake comments, too). Don’t forget to check out our best mobile antivirus apps (opens in new tab) page to protect your phone from the shadowy corners of the Google Play Store.
