A considerable amount of e-commerce dollars are being spent on mobile apps in today’s time, and scammers are taking note. Industry reports show that since 2015, fraudulent mobile app purchases have shot up by a staggering 300%.
This article examines Raghib Khan’s valuable insights on fraudulent/scam apps, their distribution, their risk to your users, and how mobile fraud prevention, mobile fraud detection, and mobile fraud protection can help you safeguard your brand and business.
Variety Of Fake Apps:
Depending on the malevolent aim scammers have when developing them. They can classify fake apps into several categories. Any code known as malware puts a user, their data, or their device at risk. Any of the following categories noted by RNF Technologies’ Raghib Khan could apply to the virus inserted into a false or fraudulent program, depending on its functionality and capabilities.
- Backdoor apps give a hacker remote access to a device, so they may carry out unwanted and frequently harmful, remote-controlled actions like wiping away existing apps or installing new ones without the user’s permission.
- Charge-off scam: Apps that charge purchases to a user’s phone bill without the user’s consent are considered billing scams. This could involve making purchases in an app store, sending premium SMS messages, or placing collect calls.
- Branded Spyware: Commercial spyware apps transmit personal data from a user’s device to outside companies without the user’s knowledge or consent. These kinds of apps may read your text messages or phone calls.
- DoS apps contain code that can put your phone at risk of a DoS attack, flooding a remote server with requests to overwhelm it and bring it to a complete stop.
- Malicious Downloaders: While hostile downloaders do not inherently contain malicious code, they start the uninvited download of further hazardous software onto a device.
How To Identify Fraud app Scams
- Examine the reviews.
Be wary if an app has low reviews and numerous user complaints. Uniformly positive ratings could be a red flag because fraudulent app makers routinely fabricate reviews to entice people to acquire their product. If the reviews seem too great, go with your gut and look elsewhere.
- Watch out for grammar mistakes.
Reputable app developers often avoid typos and mistakes in app descriptions. If you notice grammatical errors in the app description, proceed with caution.
- Verify the number of users who have downloaded the app.
There could be unlimited numbers of reliable apps. A well-known piece of software with only a small number of downloads could be a scam.
- Enquire about the developer.
Conduct a name-based online search to find out more about a developer. You’ll be able to judge their credibility because of this. Sometimes a phony app’s developer name will be the same as its genuine counterparts, with one or two letters changed to make consumers think they are the real deal. Pay close attention to the details, especially if other reasons are suspicious.
- Double-check the publishing date.
When was the app released? If it shows a recent date yet has numerous downloads, it’s certainly a hoax. This is because popular, dependable programs generally remain online for a while.
- Review the permissions agreement.
Read the permissions agreement before downloading the program. Fake programs commonly request additional authorizations that are not technically necessary. Most people don’t read the fine print, and thus this can go unnoticed.
- Take a look at the icon.
A fake app’s icon could match a legitimate app it is imitating. Phonato Studios’ Raghib Khan has noticed that this frequently happens when imitations of well-known games are employed. Pay attention, and don’t be duped by fraudulent imitations of real icons.
