- Apr 21, 2016
- 3,439
A malicious Adobe Flash Player scam app was found in the Google Play Store by security researchers and promptly removed by Google. Unfortunately, the app had been in the store since November 2016, managing to get somewhere between 100,000 and 500,000 downloads.
Dubbed F11, this app wasn't your typical downloader, ransomware or damage-doing tool since it did not contain any harmful code. It was, however, a social-engineering-based scam, tricking people into paying $19 for Adobe Flash Player.
Flash Player for Android has always been available for free and was actually discontinued back in 2012 due to its many security vulnerabilities.
"Factually, this is a scam. Legally, the crooks behind this operation tried to avoid the scam label. However, because of how they implemented their trick, it's safe to call it a scam," says Lukáš Štefanko, ESET malware researcher who led the investigation.
How does it work
Once someone downloaded the app, the app ... (read more)
Dubbed F11, this app wasn't your typical downloader, ransomware or damage-doing tool since it did not contain any harmful code. It was, however, a social-engineering-based scam, tricking people into paying $19 for Adobe Flash Player.
Flash Player for Android has always been available for free and was actually discontinued back in 2012 due to its many security vulnerabilities.
"Factually, this is a scam. Legally, the crooks behind this operation tried to avoid the scam label. However, because of how they implemented their trick, it's safe to call it a scam," says Lukáš Štefanko, ESET malware researcher who led the investigation.
How does it work
Once someone downloaded the app, the app ... (read more)
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