The number of smartphones users has exploded. However, alongside this, something else that is exploding is cybercrime. Criminals have gone online in expanding numbers to attempt to cheat cash out of people, steal data, even serve them ads that generate cash for them or simply mess with their smartphones. With Android smartphones being the largest component of the phone-packing public, the threat perception here is the highest. The latest such threat that has emerged is that some links that are being sent to people and those who click on them, suffer damage. This is a warning to all those people who have Google Android mobile phones on what not to do.
Consistently, there are such countless messages that smartphone users get. However, prior to tapping on any of them, Users should thoroughly consider what is being said there – for the most part they are tied in with tricking people to click with false guarantees or offers. However, it is here and there extreme to tell as URL shorteners are used, which shroud the name of websites, raising the confusion quotient to a new level. But now, another worrying aspect has come up – fraudsters now try to even scare people into clicking on these links. These have been dubbed scareware. It has been seen that some of these links even want users to download cleaner apps to get rid of malware on their smartphones, but the very opposite of that happens. The links may well carry malware that gets loaded on smartphones and these allow cybercriminals access to a user’s password and other sensitive banking or personal information that can be misused to steal or even blackmail them.
As per ESET malware specialist Lukas Stefanko, “The problem is that some of these link shortener services use aggressive advertising techniques such as scareware ads: informing users their devices are infected with dangerous malware, directing users to download dodgy apps from the Google Play store or to participate in shady surveys, delivering adult content.”
He added, “We found one piece of malware we named Android/FakeAdBlocker, which downloads and executes extra payloads (like financial trojans, SMS trojans, and forceful adware).”
What users can do about this is basic – they should ignore these messages and never click on them. Notwithstanding, on the off chance that mix-ups have been made, there are approaches to attempt to dispose of this malware. ESET report says that clients ought to go to “Settings -> Apps. Because the malware doesn’t have an icon or an app name, it should be easy to spot.” Thereafter, all that needs to be done is click on Uninstall. Also, to remove the related spam events created by this malware, users can use a free app called Calendar Cleanup that is available on Google Play Store
