With the rise of mobile apps these past few years, fraudsters have also leveled up their scamming methods and has integrated technology on their latest scamming techniques. Now they have created fake mobile applications to which your personal information and banking accounts can fall into the wrong hands. Just before the year 2018 unfolds, Google has removed 36 apps from the Google Play Store that has deemed to be posing as a security app.
Fake apps nowadays have become a major threat in our online security. Let’s define what are these fraudulent apps and how can you do mobile apps monitoring to protect your app or your brand from getting a scamming impression to your target audience.
What are these fake apps?
Fake apps are mobile applications made for Android or iOS that recreates the look of its real counterparts to trick users, especially the gullible ones, to install and share some information to it. These fraudulent applications will start to do some inappropriate actions as soon as they are installed. They can also show up ads non-stop to get more profit in ad revenues, and gather personal information, harvest sensitive info and even share these apps to other devices without knowing it.
How are these fake apps being deployed?
There are a lot of ways to which these fake apps are being distributed. Common methods include hosting on third party app stores or websites or being downloaded unknowingly especially if you browse through suspected websites and pornographic websites. They can be also hosted through legitimate apps stores, though the number of these fake apps on legitimate apps stores have significantly lowered these past few years.
How to protect your brand from these fake apps?
Installing a fraudulent app can bring several consequences, even severe ones, to users. That is why users need to be more vigilant, know the difference between a fraudulent and a legitimate one, and avoid downloading apps from third party app hosting sites. Companies and brands do also have a great blow on these fake apps as they can suffer from reputational and financial loss when their official apps became the subject of a fraudulent organization.
Partnering with Fraudwatch International will surely protect you from the damages brought by fake apps. Fraudwatch International’s great reputation in fighting scams has made them one of the trusted agencies to retain your brand’s good reputation. Protect your brand from frauds with Fraudwatch International.