The growing popularity of cryptocurrencies makes it a savory ground for scammers. More and more fraudulent applications are using cryptocurrencies as an appendage, even to the point of inserting malware in these applications.
Most of these apps have been removed by Google from the Play Store, because they have been caught by various security researchers. Take, for example, Trend Micro, which found 7 fraudulent applications related to cryptocurrencies.
This malicious app is described as a cryptocurrency mining app, which can help its users to earn huge profits by investing in crypto mining businesses.
But what actually happens is that these apps only display ads and trick their victims into paying a subscription fee of USD 15 per month with the lure of increasing mining results.
Here are the apps that Trend Micro found and have since been removed by Google:
BitFunds - Crypto Cloud Mining
Bitcoin Miner - Cloud Mining
Bitcoin (BTC) - Pool Mining Cloud Wallet
Crypto Holic - Bitcoin Cloud Mining
Daily Bitcoin Rewards - Cloud Based Mining System
Bitcoin 2021
MineBit Pro - Crypto Cloud Mining & btc miner
Ethereum (ETH) - Pool Mining Cloud
Then there is the security company Lookout who discovered that there are more than 170 Android applications that make cryptocurrency enthusiasts a victim. Most of these applications offer cryptocurrency mining services via the cloud.
The mode is that the victim will be asked to pay rent for the use of the perpetrator's server which is promised to be used to mine crypto. However, according to Lookout in its investigation, no cryptocurrency was produced from the 'mining'.
"Based on our analysis, they scammed more than 93,000 victims and stole at least $350,000 from users who paid for the app and purchased upgrades and additional services that turned out to be fake," Lookout wrote in its report.
25 of the 170 applications are also available on the Google Play Store and are sold at prices ranging from USD 11 to USD 21. Responding to Lookout's report, Google also removed 25 of these applications from the Play Store, but the rest are still circulating in third-party app stores.