8 Deceptive Cryptocurrency Mining Apps From Play Store Removed by Google
As per Trend Micro research, it identified eight fraudulent mobile applications deceiving victims. According to a report by cybersecurity company Trend Micro, Google has deleted eight fraudulent mobile apps posing as bitcoin cloud mining programs from the Play Store.
Moreover, the company identified eight malicious applications masquerading as bitcoin cloud mining apps intended to mislead consumers.
The company said in a blog post:
“Due to an increased number of people who are interested in learning about mining cryptocurrency, cybercriminals are actively exploiting people’s interest not just by deploying cryptocurrency-mining malware, but by creating fake Android apps that target those interested in virtual coins.”
Findings Submitted to Google Play
According to the study, these malicious applications lead users to advertisements. Also, pay for membership services that pay an average monthly cost of $15. Furthermore, pay for improved mining capabilities without returns. The applications, immediately withdrawn from the Play Store when the firm submitted its findings to Google Play.
These bogus applications include BitFunds – Crypto Cloud Mining, Bitcoin Mining – Cloud Mining, Bitcoin (BTC) – Cloud Wallet Mining Pool, Bitcoin Cloud Mining – Crypto Holic – Daily Bitcoin Rewards – Cloud Based Mining System. Also, Bitcoin 2021, MineBit Pro – Ethereum Crypto Cloud Mining & BTC (ETH) – Pool Mining Cloud.
Two of these applications charged users, moreover required to buy them. These were Crypto Holic – Bitcoin cloud mining that cost $12.99 to download. While the Cloud-based mining system Daily Bitcoin Rewards is $5.99.
The company also discovered “applications for this kind of application” on Google Play while searching for the terms “cloud mining.” Some of these applications are more than 100,000 times downloaded.
Users may install and use safeguards that alert them about fraudulent apps to prevent such occurrences.
