A new set of "fleeceware" apps has been discovered that appears to have been downloaded and installed by more than 600 million Android users, according to Sophos security researchers. The cybersecurity firm first coined the term fleeceware last September after discovering a new type of financial fraud in the Google Play Store. The term itself refers to apps that abuse the ability to offer users trial periods before their bills are charged. When a user signs up for an Android app trial, they must manually cancel the trial to avoid being billed. Most of the users simply uninstall the apps they don't like and most of the app developers take this as a sign that they want to cancel the trial period without being charged. However, last year, Sophos discovered that some app developers did not cancel an Android app's trial period after it was uninstalled and instead continued to test them. get paid despite the fact that they were no longer using the app.
Fleeceware Applications
According to Sophos, the firm said it initially discovered 24 Android apps charging high fees, between €100 and €240 a year, for simple apps like QR readers and calculators after their trial periods. However, in a recent report, Sophos revealed that it had discovered another set of Android Fleeceware apps installed by more than 600 million Android users. The company's Jagadesh Chandraiah explained how these wool apps became so popular on the Play Store in a blog post, saying, “Some of these apps are very unprofessional. Based on past experience, these app developers may have used a paid service to increase their number of installs and forge a large number of four and five star reviews. You can identify some of these fake user review groups by looking at the latest 5-star reviews; One to three word, five-star reviews tend to be “sockskin” reviews. " Fleeceware apps are still a problem that Google will face in the Play Store, but to avoid falling victim to their scams, users are advised to think twice before signing up for a subscription period. Don't forget to cancel all periods test for those who sign up and check your Play Store payment history for any suspicious charges Via ZDNet