Despite Google‘s attempts to weed out apps that might pose a threat to the privacy and security of the users, various apps keep popping up on the Play Store. Recently 15 fake GPS and navigation apps with more than 50 million downloads were spotted on the app store.
Lukas Stefanko, a malware researcher at ESET, first spotted these fake apps. Stefanko reported that he tested over 15 fake navigation apps that have been downloaded more than 50 million times. These apps just redirect users to the Google Maps and have no inherent function to them whatsoever, except to display ads. The sole purpose of such apps is to make money through the ads that have been embedded in their UI.
Stefanko said that some apps even asked for money in order to remove the ads, while others asked access to the dialer and other permissions that a navigation app generally does not need. This could pose a security risk to the users and might compromise their data and privacy.
Stefanko has reported those apps to Google for violating the Google Maps terms of use.
While Google is working on removing these apps from the Play Store, users too, need to be careful as to which apps they choose to download on their device. Users need to make sure about the relevance and credibility of the developer the apps come from, a third party app more often than not contains malware and might cause your phone to misbehave.
Google has recently removed more than 85 adware apps from the Store that were disguised as games and TV and remote control simulators on Google Play. Before their removal, the apps had been downloaded more than 9 million times.
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