If you own an Android handset, you need to heed this warning. There are 15 apps that must be deleted immediately if they are installed on your Android-powered device. “A global threat exploiting social engineering” has managed to get installed on over eight million phones and if you are one of the many users tricked into installing one or more of these apps, you could find yourself taking a huge financial hit. With these apps installed, you could end up a victim of harassment, extortion, and suffer a huge financial loss.
There has been a huge global increase in SpyLoan apps
Cybersecurity firm McAfee’s mobile research team has discovered a huge global increase in SpyLoan apps. The latter is a predatory loan app that targets Android users around various countries. These apps use social engineering which is a form of manipulation in an attempt to trick users into revealing personal and sensitive information. It is also used to obtain extra mobile app permissions. McAfee has come up with the aforementioned 15 apps with eight million installations.
“Despite violating policies, these apps often slip through app store vetting processes and are available on platforms like Google Play, making them appear trustworthy.”-McAfee
SpyLoan apps try to attract victims by pretending to offer quick and flexible loans with low rates and easy-to-meet requirements. But as with anything that sounds too good to be true, these loans are, well, too good to be true. By using limited-time deals the cybercrooks create a sense of urgency that snags victims and prevents them from taking a long thoughtful look at what they are doing.
These malicious apps use back-end framework to control installed apps and transfer sensitive data out of a phone, often done in the background without the user having any awareness that this is being done. While previously malicious SpyLoan apps were installed on Android devices via sideloading from a third-party Android app storefront, these 15 apps came from Google’s official Android app storefront, the Google Play Store. Google has removed some of the 15 malicious apps while others were updated by developers to erase the threat.
If you have any of these 15 apps installed on your Android phone, delete it immediately. | Imag credit-McAfee
Check the chart that we’ve included with this article to see whether you have any of the 15 malicious apps installed on your Android phone. If you have installed one or more of these apps, you know exactly what to do: delete these apps from your phone immediately if not sooner. These apps, according to McAfee, end up leaving Android users caught in a debt cycle.
Watch out for these red flags!
Google suggests that you have Play Protect enabled which scans Android devices for malware-infected apps. The feature warns users about potentially harmful apps and may deactivate or remove such apps from a device.
Google says to watch out for the following signs that indicate your device might be compromised:
- Alerts about a virus or an infected device
- Anti-virus software you use no longer works or runs
- A significant decrease in your device’s operating speed
- A significant, unexpected decrease in storage space on your device
- Your device stops working properly or working altogether
If these symptoms surface on your Android phone, you might want to make sure that Google Play Protect is enabled by opening the Play Store, tapping the profile icon in the top right corner, pressing “Play Protect Settings, ” and toggling on the switch next to “Scan apps with Play Protect.” For enhanced protection enable “Improve harmful app detection.”
You can also check for Android device and security updates, and remove untrusted apps no longer in the Play Store or found in a third-party app store. This is a serious matter since the bottom line is that your money is involved. And keep in mind that even if Google removed these apps from the Play Store, if you installed any of them on your phone they will stay in your phone and remain a threat until you delete them.
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