This money-stealing scam app has been BANNED by the Google Play Store! Did you download it? DELETE
A scam app that steals money has been found downloaded more than 10,000 times from the Google Play Store. If you still have this app, you should delete it now!
A special malicious banking trojan app for Android phones has just been exposed. This money stealing scam app has targeted banking apps, online wallets, insurance apps, crypto wallets etc to steal data and passwords. Once retrieved, it will share access with hackers, who will steal victims’ funds. The scariest part of this online scam is that the app has been found on the Google Play Store and downloaded more than 10,000 times by innocent users. It was called the ‘QR Code & Barcode – Scanner’ app and since then it has been banned on the Google Play Store. Read on to see how this Google Play Store banned app works.
The incident came to light after a report by Cleafy, an online fraud prevention and management company, highlighted that trojan malware released by an application called TeaBot appeared in early 2021. This Trojan is designed to steal ” credentials and SMS messages” of the victim. This malware is very clever and created in such a way that it can hide in plain sight.
How this Google Play Store scam app stole money from users
The QR Code & Barcode – Scanner app itself was designed to provide a number of benefits to the users and thus became quite popular. And, since it works as advertised, it often has rave reviews. But even though the app looks genuine, it is actually an online scam app. Once downloaded, it will immediately ask for permission to download a second app called QR Code Scanner: Add-ons. This application includes many samples of Teabot malware.
Once installed, the trojan will ask for permission to control the smartphone screen. When it does, it finds sensitive information like login details, SMS messages, and two-factor authentication codes. It also maliciously requests permission to allow Teabot to record keyboard entries for easier access to sensitive data.
“Since the trickle app distributed on the official Google Play Store only asks for some permissions and the malicious apps are downloaded afterwards, it can be confused between legitimate apps and almost impossible. detectable by conventional anti-virus solutions,” the report said.
The app is already live out of the Google Play Store and appears to have evolved over the past two years. Previously, this trojan was spread through SMS-based phishing campaigns, where users would be sent fake updates for popular apps and once the victim downloaded it, the trojan would be planted. This money-stealing scam app has been removed by Google but you can still use it on your smartphone.
To find out if you have the app on your smartphone, you can visit this page link And confirm. If you have it, make sure to delete it immediately. Also, in the future, never grant any app permissions that it doesn’t ask for. Always take a moment to read the permissions an app is asking for, and if found to be suspicious, uninstall it immediately and report it.
