Android phone warning about the battery saver app that steals your texts, phone numbers and location

ANDROID smartphones users are warned of a shady application that spies your texts, your contacts and your location

This information could then be used by cybercriminals to steal payment details and even victims of blackmail.

Lehtikuva

It all starts with a message of # 39; warning on your phone that identifies the device you are using – making the scam all the more convincing.

There is no way to ignore the alert, which directs you to the malicious application "Advanced Battery Saver" on the Google Play Store.

The work is surprisingly announced: reduce the battery voltage, increase the volume of your phone and prevent other applications from monopolizing the resources of your phone.

But he also gets permission to access your private data as he steals.

launches an ad-clicker in the background that may prompt you to click on advertisements designed to make money to fraudsters

RiskIQ

Advanced Battery Saver would have been downloaded to about 60,000 devices worldwide, which HackRead's claims might suggest the victims have already harvested nice profit.

"writes RiskIQ, the cybersecurity company who spotted the scam, in a blog post.

"The content of text messages is used in the announcement by clicking on the map. the identifiers for the messages returned to the identifiers of the advertisements – another source of income for the operators. "

It seems that the application is no longer available on the Google Play Store, but if you already have it installed, you must remove it immediately and run an anti-malware scan to check for any malicious software that the application may have left behind.

We have contacted Google for pl we will update this article with its response.

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