Beware – Fake Google Apps Spotted Over Windows Phone Store!
Windows Phone has a worldwide market share of less than 5% in 2014, and this has led to its marketplace (known as the Windows Phone Store) being ignored by several app developers. The most prominent of these developers of course, is Google.
Right now the only Google app that is available over the Windows Phone Store is Google Search. However, some nefarious parties have taken advantage of this to make available some fake applications over the marketplace over the last few days.
Microsoft recently removed some fake Google apps which were spotted over the store. The fake apps that were found were as follows:
- Gmail
- Hangouts
- Google Maps
- Google+
- Google Search
- Google Voice
The red flag was raised when it was noted that these apps were retailing at $1.99. Google offers these same apps over Android and iOS for free. Moreover, the name of the developer for these apps was Google, Inc. Over Android, Google goes by the name Google Inc. (without the comma)
Fake apps carry several security risks and afflict user privacy as well. They can track user locations, steal email IDs and phone contacts and phone logs, eat into data usage and mobile bills and also carry out man-in-the-middle attacks.
Please note that these apps have now been removed from the Windows Phone Store.
A Microsoft spokesperson said – We removed a series of apps for violating our policies concerning the use of misleading information. The apps attempted to misrepresent the identity of the publisher.
To stay safe against fake applications over Android and BlackBerry devices, Quick Heal Mobile Security offers several great features and real-time protection.