29 October 2023 , 10:00
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If you have an Android phone in your pocket you might want to check it without delay. Security experts at Dr.Web, have discovered a dozen popular applications that are infecting phones with highly irritating adware that bombards screens with annoying sponsored messages. Although it might not sound that concerning this type of scam can end up generating huge sums of money for cyber crooks whilst users face phones that are clogged up with content that they’ve never agreed to see.
What makes this latest attack even more concerning is the amount of downloads some of the apps have received along with the way criminals cover their tracks.
One app, called Super Skibydi Killer, has amassed over one million downloads whilst another, called Agent Shooter, managed to get itself installed on around 500,000 devices.
Others use clever tricks to hide themselves on the devices meaning users often then forget they've ever been installed.
Along with that annoying adware scam, some of the applications in question have also been found to push users to dangerous investment scams along with sending others to dubious casino sites.
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All of the applications were readily available on Google ’s Play Store although all have since been banned by the US technology giant.
Although that means they can no longer be downloaded, anyone who has already installed them will need to make sure things are removed to keep their devices safe.
Here are all of the apps discovered by Dr Webb and how many times they have been installed.
• Super Skibydi Killer – 1,000,000 downloads
• Agent Shooter – 500,000
• Rainbow Stretch – 50,000
• Rubber Punch 3D – 500,000
• Eternal Maze (Yana Pospyelova) – 50,000
• Jungle Jewels (Vaibhav Wable) – 10,000
• Stellar Secrets (Pepperstocks) – 10,000
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• Fire Fruits (Sandr Sevill) – 10,000
• Cowboy's Frontier (Precipice Game Studios) – 10,000
• Enchanted Elixir (Acomadyi) – 10,000
• Love Emoji Messenger (Korsinka Vimoipan) – 50,000
• Beauty Wallpaper HD (fm0989184) – 1,000