Skip to main content

Google bans more than 5 ‘deceptive’ crypto application from Google Play Store

 



Google bans 8 ‘deceptive’ crypto apps from Play Store

Google has delisted eight allegedly fraudulent mobile apps from its Play Store that were duping crypto enthusiasts by charging fees for an illegitimate cloud mining service. 

Fraudulent mobile applications have now become a popular method to mislead unwary users with high success rates. Trend Micro’s latest research discovered eight Android applications that were exploiting crypto users by charging a monthly fee under the false pretext of running a legitimate cloud mining service.

Further analysis into the matter uncovered that the malicious apps hosted by Google — posing as crypto mining applications — were deceiving users into watching paid ads and paying for a cloud mining service that does not exist.

According to the report, users were not only being charged a monthly fee of approximately $15 but were also subject to more payments for enabling “increased mining capabilities.” In addition, some of the apps required an upfront payment from the user.

The reportedly fraudulent crypto apps included mining services, such as BitFunds, Bitcoin Miner, Daily Bitcoin Rewards, Crypto Holic, MineBit Pro, Bitcoin 2021, and Ethereum — Pool Mining Cloud. The list also includes a crypto wallet service named Bitcoin — Pool Mining Cloud Wallet.

While the above findings were reported to Google Play and have been reportedly removed from the Play Store, Trend Micro claims to have spotted numerous other fraudulent apps that have been downloaded over 100,000 times. The company’s data suggests that over 120 fake apps still exist in the Play Store:

“These apps, which do not have cryptocurrency mining capabilities and deceive users into watching in-app ads, have affected more than 4,500 users globally from July 2020 to July 2021.”

On Aug. 3, Google revised its ad policy, which allows crypto exchanges and wallet services to market their products to Google users. As a part of this drive, advertisers need to be registered with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network as a “money services business and with at least one state as a money transmitter, or a federal or state-chartered bank entity.”

However, the established policy prevents initial coin offerings, businesses and celebrities from shilling cryptocurrencies. On the other end of the spectrum, social media giant TikTok has resorted to completely banning crypto ads on its platform, a move similar to Google’s previous policy back in 2018.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Elon Musk wants Twitter to be a free speech town square

  Elon Musk wants Twitter to be a free speech town square by   daysall     April 18, 2022 0 SHARES Elon Musk’s vision for Twitter is a public town square where there are few restrictions on what people can or can’t say on the Internet. But the utopian ideal envisioned by the Tesla CEO ceased to exist long ago and doesn’t take into account what’s happening in the real world, tech executives, Twitter employees and Silicon Valley insiders say. As Musk seeks a $43 billion hostile takeover bid for Twitter, critics say his ambition for what the platform should be — a largely unpoliced space rid of censorship — is naive, would hurt the company’s growth prospects and would render the platform unsafe. Twitter, Facebook and other social networks have spent billions of dollars and employed armies of people to create and enforce policies to reduce hate speech, misinformation and other toxic communication that degrades public discourse. In doing so, they’ve provoked the ire not o...
Post a Comment
Read more

Trump Reportedly Told Jeffrey Rosen to Call Election 'Corrupt' Days After Barr Resigned

00:40 Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on LinkedIn Share on Pinterest Share on Reddit Share on Flipboard Share via Email Comments U.S. DONALD TRUMP 2020 ELECTION Trump Reportedly Told Jeffrey Rosen to Call Election 'Corrupt' Days After Barr Resigned BY  MARY ELLEN CAGNASSOLA  ON 7/30/21 AT 1:14 PM EDT Notes of a December call made by President  Donald Trump  to senior Justice Department officials, released Friday by the House Oversight Committee, show Trump urged those officials to publicly declare the results of the 2020 election "corrupt." Handwritten notes from one of the participants in the December 27 conversation demonstrate the lengths Trump went to in an attempt to reverse the results of the election and gain the support of officials in law enforcement and government leadership. Last month, emails from Trump and his allies in the final weeks of his term in office revealed that they attempted to pressure the Justice Department to look into their unsubs...
Post a Comment
Read more

The US and China both have their eyes on a country at the heart of the Indo-pacific

Indonesian light frigate KRI Bunt     Tensions continue to rise in the Indo-Pacific, where China's economic growth and military modernization have drawn the attention and concern of politicians and defense officials in the region and around the world. As China and the US compete for influence in the region, they are setting their sights on a country that has historically resisted getting involved in foreign affairs: Indonesia. With over 270 million people, Indonesia is the fourth-largest country in the world and the third-largest in Asia. Made up of over 17,000 islands that straddle the Pacific and Indian oceans, it has a commanding position over the vital Strait of Malacca and the traditional maritime approaches to Australia. "The geopolitical challenges of the future, Indonesia sits in an incredibly important strategic location," Michael Green, senior vice president for Asia and Japan chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Insider. Indonesia...
Post a Comment
Read more