Google Bans 21 Malicious Android Apps

Google bans 21 malicious Android apps — what is the reason behind this??

According to a report published by the website “Express”, Android users — numbering over 100 million —

fell victim to fraud carried out by malicious software spreading through some Google Play apps,

which cost them the loss of thousands of dollars.

Operation “Dark Herring”

“Dark Herring” — this is the name given to the fraud operation,

whose organizers were extremely clever, as they used more than 400 apps

to reach more than 100 million Android devices.

After the launch of operation “Dark Herring” approximately in March 2020,

it forced Android users — who had downloaded the apps specifically designed to carry out the fraud —

into expensive subscriptions that cost them approximately $15 per month, and of course this is no small sum when paid by over 100 million people every month.

Discovering Operation “Dark Herring”

After operation “Dark Herring” had, as we mentioned, targeted more than 100 million devices,

and managed to ensnare a large number of victims — and no wonder, as it later turned out that the Google Play apps

carrying this fraudulent system had been downloaded millions of times unfortunately,

but nothing lasts forever. Security experts

from the company “Zimperium” — a Google partner and member of

“Google’s App Defense Alliance” —

finally managed to discover the fraud operation that had been operating in silence.

How the Fraudulent Software Works, According to (Zimperium)

While presenting its explanation, (Zimperium) stated that if you look at those apps for the first time,

the ones that spread the “Dark Herring” operation, they appear to be very ordinary and harmless apps — and there is no reason to suspect otherwise,

but in reality this deceptive appearance bares its fangs when the user begins paying subscription fees

in exchange for a service or feature that does not actually exist and is never received — in other words, a phantom feature,

and sometimes the user does not even know that fees have been collected from them for nothing.

This is because the “Dark Herring” software uses a clever method to deceive the user through the Direct Carrier Billing

system known by the abbreviation “DCB”, which allows users to add digital content charges to their monthly telecom bill.