Over past few days, I have seen the game ‘Flappy Birds’ mentioned several times by my contacts on Facebook. I personally never thought of trying it, mainly because I have heard it is very addictive. And I, right now, have no time to get addicted to a game!
But if you are thinking of downloading Flappy Birds, then here’s something you must be careful about. As per the information I got, Hackers have released fake apps to take advantage of the real app’s huge popularity. The aim of these fake apps is, of course, cheating people out of their money. So beware, because as per Trend Micro, this fake app can very easily trick users to send premium messages.
Trend Micro has warned about fake Flappy Bird apps on Google’s Android Play Store. The fake app asks for permission to read and send text messages. I know that most users don’t pay much attention to permissions while installing an app. The scammers know it too well too. So be careful while downloading any app, no matter how trusted it is. As things are going, you may end up downloading something that’s not really the one you intended.
Here’s what I do. Before downloading an app, I check the number of downloads, I make sure the app has plenty of good reviews, and also take a quick peek at the developer’s website. A scammer is not likely to have a website, or a good website, you see.
Anyway, back to the fake Flappy Birds. The original app is no longer available (Click HERE to know why). But it seems that several fake Flappy Birds are flapping about in the Play Store. They send messages to premium numbers, thereby inflating the users’ phone bills. In addition, there’s also a risk of leaking of confidential information like phone numbers, Gmail address etc.
According to Dhanya Thakkar, Managing Director, India & SAARC, Trend Micro, “ The original Flappy Bird has been officially taken off the mobile app stores, but hackers have reportedly released knock-offs of the ‘addictive’ game, containing spam, to trick users into sending premium rate text messages.”
As per Trend Micro, the fake apps had so far been targeting users in Russia and Vietnam. But that doesn’t mean the users in other regions need not be careful. The online world is too full of malicious worms. So be careful. Always.
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How far can a person go to fulfill the dreams of someone else?
