Google between July and September removed a number of apps that were infected with dangerous malware from the Play Store.
TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports the dangerous malware is known as the Joker malware that has been infecting apps on the Play Store for the past several months.
The malware is not a new one, but recently many app developers have also given information about it, and Google removed information about these apps from the Play Store.
The Joker malware is a malicious bot that has been categorized as fleeceware. The main function of this malware is to make the user click and subscribe to paid premium services via SMS.
Without any knowledge, users subscribe to this service and fall prey to fraud. The Joker does its job with very little coding and leaves very few marks behind, which makes it difficult to identify.
Joker-infected 11 apps were first removed from the Play Store in July. After this, 6 more apps were removed in early September. Recently 17 more apps were infected with this malware and now they have been removed from the App Store.
The apps infected by the malware on Google Play Store are:
- All Good PDF Scanner
- Mint Leaf Message-Your Private Message
- Private SMS
- Tangram App Lock
- Direct Messenger
- Unique Keyboard – Fancy Fonts & Free Emoticons
- One Sentence Translator – Multifunctional Translator
- Style Photo Collage
- Meticulous Scanner
- Desire Translate
- Talent Photo Editor – Blur focus
- Care Message
- Part Message
- Paper Doc Scanner
- Blue Scanner
- Hummingbird PDF Converter – Photo to PDF
- All Good PDF Scanner
- com.imagecompress.android
- com.relax.relaxation.androidsms
- com.file.recovefiles
- com.training.memorygame
- Push Message- Texting & SMS
- Fingertip GameBox
- com.contact.withme.texts
- com.cheery.message.sendsms (two different instances)
- com.LPlocker.lockapps
- Safety AppLock
- Emoji Wallpaper
- com.hmvoice.friendsms
- com.peason.lovinglovemessage
- com.remindme.alram
- Convenient Scanner 2
- Separate Doc Scanner