Photo: by CHRIS DELMAS / AFP via Getty Images) / AFP / Getty Images
Google announced that it is removing several of its applications from the Google Play Store platform, that are related to cryptocurrencies and that are “maliciously” promoted as cryptocurrency mining apps that in turn offer large “profits”, but are ultimately fraudulent.
The greats of Google obtained confirmation of these fraudulent apps from the security company TrendMicro . Apparently, once the applications were downloaded on Android devices, misleading ads were immediately displayed for the user.
The fraud started from paying $ 15 dollars per month for subscription services and mining opportunity, but the truth is that at the end of each month users did not receive any reward, or result of their mining of digital assets.
This could be the beginning of a hunt of applications for smartphones that offer “paradises” but that the truth the final objective is to steal data or money.
Until now It became known that Google had eliminated about 8 of the so-called “malicious programs” of cryptocurrencies, which they offered on their platform. Some of the cryptocurrency “mining” apps that were eliminated are:
- Bitfunds.
- Bitcoin Miner.
- Bitcoin (BTC) – Pool mining cloud wallet.
- Daily bitcoin rewards.
- Bitcoin 1200.
- MineBit pro.
- Ethereum ( ETH – Pool mining cloud wallet.
Crypto Holic.
The investigation began when they began to read comments from users of the apps that spoke of “Scam” and did not recommend them or gave them a very low score in the “reviews”.
But the thing is not only that Google eliminates the fraudulent apps, but now your Android device is not safe. For this reason Google recommends deleting them from the phone, deleting the caches and all the files that have to do with any of the indicated apps.
The subscription payments required by these apps used to be between $ 5 and $ 15 dollars, and many of them were downloaded at least some 100, 000 times, according to TrendMicro’s report.
The security company also explained that when downloading the apps, they requested to click on certain advertisements “full of malicious items.”
Although Google has so far deleted a few of those apps, Trendsmicro assures that there are at least some 120 fake cryptocurrency apps that are still circulating on the network; and they don’t have any mining capabilities but they do have the ability to trick users into clicking on all kinds of ads.
In the same way, a few months ago the British company of technological security, Sophos, explained that are hundreds of companies that today have established themselves in the network for fraud in cryptocurrency exchange or mining ; They pose as well-known and trustworthy companies such as: Binance, Gemini, Kraken, or have bank fronts to deceive.