Android scam apps with 10 million downloads deleted by Google

Android scam apps with ten million downloads deleted by Google — what to practice now

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Google has kicked 151 Android apps out of the Play Store for being scams, and yous'll want to make sure none of these apps are installed on your phone.

The apps, as detailed by cybersecurity firm Avast in a report last week, appear to be games, custom keyboards, QR code scanners and other utilities advertised on TikTok, Instagram and other social-media platforms. But they in fact sign you lot upwards for premium-SMS subscriptions costing up to $twoscore per month. Altogether, these scam apps have been downloaded more than 10 1000000 times.

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As Avast's Jakub Vavra put it, these scams "earn a bad thespian or actors money while ultimately leaving victims completely empty-handed."

There'due south no longer any danger that you'll be installing 1 of these specific apps, but it'due south possible that you may have installed one in the by. If then, you'll want to remove it. Hither'southward how.

How to tell whether an app has been removed from the Google Play Shop

First, we'll kickoff with a link to a listing that Avast put online detailing all the dodgy apps. The list is searchable: Next to the fiddling magnifying-drinking glass icon at the beginning of the list, plug in the name of any app nearly which you're uncertain to see if information technology's included.

If y'all do find a matching proper name, don't delete the app just even so. Many Android apps have similar or identical names, and so you'll want to make sure you've got the right one.

Fortunately, Android apps all have unique "package names," which you'll run across in the third cavalcade of Avast'due south scam-app list.

Package names are how Android tells one app from another. Even amend, package names are visible right in the URL, or web address, of each app'south listing page on the Google Play Store.

And so if you've establish an app on your phone or Android tablet that you call back may be on Avast's list, then open a new browser tab in a desktop browser and type (or copy-and-paste) this into the new tab's address bar:

              https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=

Don't hit Return or Enter but yet.

Now get to the Avast list of scammy apps and copy-and-paste the app's package name onto the end of the text in the address bar.

For instance, for the offset app listed, Ultima Keyboard 3D Pro, the package proper noun is "org.ultimatekey.board". Copy "org.ultimatekey.board" and put information technology at the end of "https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=" in your browser'southward address bar so that the full text string reads:

              https://play.google.com/shop/apps/details?id=org.ultimatekey.board

At present hit Enter or Return on your keyboard. If you get an error message saying "We're sad, the requested URL was not plant on this server," then that means that Google has removed the app from the Play Store, and you should remove the app from your device.

How to remove an app from an Android phone or tablet

Uninstalling an app on Android is pretty easy. You'll desire to start with the Settings app, which should be listed amongst your installed apps. On many phones, it's also accessed past tapping the gear icon visible in the Quick Settings menu you get by swiping down from the meridian of the screen.

In one case in Settings, then tap Apps or Apps & Notifications, and so the specific app you want to uninstall. (On some devices, you lot'll have to tap a second fourth dimension to meet all installed apps.) On the App Info screen, you lot should meet a button to Uninstall that app.

Do that and you lot'll become a pop-up asking you to ostend that you actually practice desire to uninstall the app. Click OK and y'all're washed.

How to avoid similar Android-app scams

Avast'due south report said each of these scam apps asks y'all upon its installation to enter your telephone number, including the country code, and sometimes your e-mail address likewise, then that the app can "unlock" its stated functions.

If whatever app asks you for such information before it lets you utilise it, beware. Avast found 151 apps that were part of this campaign, just it's possible at that place are still others in the Google Play Store.

Many of the original batch can even so be establish in third-political party app markets — we randomly picked three from Avast'south list and constitute them right away on a widely used "off-road" shop.

You lot'll also want to check the user reviews on each app. Avast's Vavra noted that many of these scam apps had one-star reviews from users who said the apps didn't work as advertised.

This method isn't foolproof — as we saw last week in a unlike Android malware entrada, some proficient scammers build apps that work just fine but infect your device anyway.

Finally, you'll desire to install and utilize one of the best Android antivirus apps. These apps, some of which are partly or entirely free, will scan your device for malicious apps. Android's built-in antivirus app, Google Play Protect, isn't quite up to handling the job on its own.

Paul Wagenseil is a senior editor at Tom's Guide focused on security and privacy. He has likewise been a dishwasher, fry cook, long-haul driver, lawmaking monkey and video editor. He's been rooting around in the information-security infinite for more than 15 years at FoxNews.com, SecurityNewsDaily, TechNewsDaily and Tom's Guide, has presented talks at the ShmooCon, DerbyCon and BSides Las Vegas hacker conferences, shown up in random Telly news spots and even moderated a panel discussion at the CEDIA home-technology conference. You lot can follow his rants on Twitter at @snd_wagenseil.