With the increasing popularity of cryptocurrencies, malicious applications and hackers are taking advantage of this trend. These apps are designed to mislead innocent and unsuspecting users to install them on their smartphones.
Google has found 8 such dangerous encrypted apps on its Play Store and banned them. These applications use the usual get-rich-quick scam to attract users to invest in cloud mining services and make profits.
A report by the cybersecurity research company Trend Micro stated: Although this software has nothing to do with cloud mining operations, they do not have any cryptocurrency mining features. Some of these applications prompt users to pay to increase mining. Capabilities, through the software’s in-app billing system, range from $14.99 to $189.99.
According to Trend Micro’s analysis, the eight banned apps force users to watch ads, charging an average of $115 per month. These applications also suggest to users that they can increase their mining capabilities by purchasing encrypted devices in the cloud.
The 8 applications banned by Google are BitFunds-Crypto Cloud Mining, Bitcoin Miner-Cloud Mining, Bitcoin (BTC)-Pool Mining Cloud Wallet, Crypto Holic-Bitcoin Cloud Mining, Daily Bitcoin Rewards-Cloud Based Mining System, Bitcoin 2021, MineBit Pro-Crypto Cloud Mining & BTC miner, Ethereum (ETH)-Pool Mining Cloud.
To make matters worse, Trend Micro said that there are currently more than 120 fake cryptocurrency mining applications on the market. According to the security research company, these applications affected more than 4,500 users last year.
If these applications are installed on your phone, it is recommended that you uninstall them.