They discover that apps with 2 billion downloads have committed fraud

They discover that two Chinese companies have earned millions of dollars by generating clicks and fake installations

Chinese companies Cheetah mobile and Kika Tech They are responsible for the development of 8 fraudulent applications via advertisements. These applications are Clean Master, CM File Manager, CM Launcher 3D, Master Security, Battery Doctor, CM Locker, Cheetah Keyboard and Kika Keyboard.

As discovered by the security team Kochová, these applications performed several Ads Fraud how to falsify the number of installations of the advertised applications, put several ads behind one so that they have more clicks, etc. With these techniques, they would have earned millions of extra dollars, which have been attributed by advertisers to this type of fraudulent behavior.

These apps have shown ads to install other apps in exchange for 50 cents and $ 3 per facility. Due to the way the advertising system was implemented, Cheetah and Kika accounted for all the installations of the applications, so that They took the money even when the user had installed the application from other ads.

Do not install applications from these companies

It is curious that this type of practice is carried out by two companies that collect 2,000 million installations between all your apps, and not anyone who creates a fake app in your home. After the release of the information, Cheetah Mobile has removed both apps. CM Locker is available again, but Battery Doctor has not been reissued yet.

The rest of the applications have been updated accordingly, with Clean Master being the one with the most downloads more than 1,000 million. Since Cheetah Mobile has accused a third party SDK of being guilty of this practice, and claims to be still investigate the matter. According to Kochova, "if what we have discovered is not a fraud, we would like to hear an explanation that clarifies what that is."

This fraud not only gives us details about the ethics of these two companies, but also highlights the security, privacy and fraud issues that exist in Android apps and the Google Play Store. Kochava has recorded videos about the behavior of apps on Google, in addition to captures the code of the application. Google, for its part, said it did not detect anything unusual.

Despite the hundreds of millions of downloads of these apps, bones we recommend not to install them because of the large number of permits requested, such as contacts, location, SMS, phone, camera, microphone and get statistics of all kinds of activities on our mobile.