The chances are, you have most likely heard of Flappy Bird, the viral app sensation that has recently been ranked at the top of the Google App stores free download list.
Only a few days from the time of writing, the app author Nguyen Ha Dong, pulled the app from the market, claiming that the app had become too addictive and was giving him too much attention.
This meant that users could no longer download the app or get updates for it. Of course those who already had the app could continue to use it.
The decision to remove the app wasn’t received well from its millions of users, and unsurprisingly dozens of similar imitations have appeared on the app marketplace.
But it’s not just imitations, as malicious imposters have also appeared, luring users into thinking it’s the Flappy Birds game when in reality the app harbours much more nefarious intentions.
According to Sophos, various malicious versions of the game attempt to trick users into sending SMS authentication messages to premium numbers which end up costing them money. They do this by claiming the user has to send the SMS message in order to unlock the full game, asserting they are currently playing a “trial version”.
Other versions can stealthily steal personal information such as your name and email address which can be used for spam purposes or even to initiate convincing email scams.
These malicious apps are more likely to be encountered on “black market” app markets – that is to say not the official Google Play android market, so the typical advice of not letting your phone download unapproved apps applies here (if you’ve removed the default setting, thus enabling your phone to download non-approved apps, we recommend proceeding with caution)
Recommendations…
– Only download Google approved apps and avoid apps claiming to be Flappy Birds. At the time of writing Flappy Birds has been removed from all marketplaces and we do not know if it will ever return.
– Remove any apps that claim to be the Flappy Birds game that ask you to send messages to get the full version of the game.
– Expect similar malicious apps appearing on the Windows operating system claiming you can play Flappy Birds on your laptop or PC. Only download trusted applications.
