Have you been caught up in this WhatsApp scam?
WhatsApp is one of the most popular messaging apps in the world, which unfortunately makes it a target by online scammers and hackers – and that’s exactly what happened to one million Android users, who were tricked into downloading a fake app convincingly disguised as WhatsApp.
An app called “Update WhatsApp” was available on the Google Play store until very recently, but by the time it was removed, a million people had already downloaded the malicious “update”.
Fake WhatsApp Update on #GooglePlay . Under the "same" dev name. Incl. a Unicode whitespace. One Million downloadshttps://t.co/qjqxd6n6HP pic.twitter.com/dmvTksqpuP
— Nikolaos Chrysaidos (@virqdroid) November 3, 2017
The app is made to appear even more official thanks to its developer name, which is the same as the real WhatsApp, simply with an invisible space at the end.
The fraudulent app has raised serious questions about Google’s management of its Play store, especially after one Twitter user pointed out just how many fakes are out there.
“These things are not getting enough scrutiny,” cyber security expert Stephen Ridley told Motherboard. “Why wouldn’t an app that has a huge number of downloads receive a little additional security scrutiny?”
Fortunately, the people who downloaded the fake app weren’t tricked into having their data stolen, but rather bombarded with pop-up ads in order to generate advertising revenue. But it’s a reminder of just how convincing these scams can be – and next time, it could be your personal details at risk.
Do you or family and friends use WhatsApp and got caught out by this scam? Tell us in the comments below.