According to Lookout, 25 of the programs were available on the Google Play Store and cost between $10.99 and $20.99. Google has since removed them. Beware of Android apps that claim you can mine bitcoins in the cloud. A security firm has discovered dozens of Android cloud mining apps that only scam their users.
The findings come from antivirus vendor Lookout, which identified more than 170 Android apps that defrauded people interested in cryptocurrencies. Many apps offered cryptocurrency mining services through servers hosted on the internet. In return, users had to pay for the app. However, Lookout’s investigation revealed that no cryptocurrency was actually generated.
“According to our analysis, they scammed over 93,000 people and stole at least $350,000 from users who paid for apps and purchased fake updates and additional services,” Lookout said, citing install numbers. apps.
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25 of the programs were also available on the Google Play Store at prices ranging from $10.99 to $20.99. In response to the Lookout report, Google removed the apps. The rest of the apps are distributed through third-party stores.
According to Lookout, Google’s Security Search failed to detect malicious apps, likely because they didn’t contain any malicious software processes. “In fact, they do next to nothing,” the company added. “These are just shells to raise money for services that don’t exist.”
The apps work by offering a virtual dashboard that allows you to monitor the cryptocurrency mining rate. The same dashboard will show you how much virtual currency has been generated. However, Lookout examined computer code in the apps as well as network traffic and determined that the displayed coin count was actually fictional.
“The displayed value is simply a counter that slowly increments in the application. For some of the apps tested, we observed that this only happens when the app is in the foreground and often resets to zero when the mobile device or app is restarted,” the company said.
To prevent users from knowing that mining is a scam, the same apps prevent you from withdrawing your earnings immediately. Instead, you can only withdraw the coin when your withdrawal has reached a minimum balance. Despite this, Lookout found that a payout was never possible; The app would reset the coin balance or show an error message during the withdrawal process.
To scam even more money, the apps also offered subscription services and expensive fake mining upgrades that can cost up to $259.
Lookout produced a separate report listing the names of various cryptocurrency mining scam apps. To be on the safe side, the company encourages consumers to research the developers behind all cloud-based cryptocurrency mining services and also to read user reviews before installing them. “Take your time, and if a deal is too good to be true, it’s probably not legit,” Lookout added.
