Although malicious apps normally try to install malware or adware on your smartphone, a new batch of bad apps has been discovered that’s actually signing users up for premium subscription services instead.
According to a new report (opens in new tab) from the cybersecurity firm Kaspersky, subscription trojans are being added to seemingly harmless Android apps in an attempt to defraud unsuspecting users.
We’ve seen this before with the infamous Joker and Harly malware, both of which used similar tactics to secretly subscribe users to paid services. This new subscription trojan has been dubbed “Fleckpe” by Kaspersky’s researchers and it’s currently being spread through photo editing apps, smartphone wallpaper packs and other utilities for the best Android phones.
Fortunately, all of the apps listed below have since been removed from the Google Play Store. However, if you have one of them installed on your smartphone, you will need to manually delete it. Here are all of the Fleckpe-infected apps that have been discovered so far:
- Beauty Camera Plus
- Beauty Photo Camera
- Beauty Slimming Photo Editor
- Fingertip Graffiti
- GIF Camera Editor
- HD 4K Wallpaper
- Impressionism Pro Camera
- Microclip Video Editor
- Night Mode Camera Pro
- Photo Camera Editor
- Photo Effect Editor
Keep in mind though that there could be other apps infected with the Fleckpe subscription trojan out there. We’ll update this story if more are discovered but in the meantime, you want to make sure that none of the apps above are installed on your smartphone.
