In today’s world of Android apps, there’s a lot of money to be made. Through not only creating a quality app but good support and good marketing. However, there are always those that would rather make a quick buck from cheating the system than putting in the hard work. This is what one French Hacker managed to do by creating fake applications that looks legitimate to users. The Hacker, from Northern France, accumulated €500,000 which works out as roughly $650,000 or £400,000 for my UK friends.
The 20 year old was working out of his parents’ basement and by stealing small amount of money from over 17,000 people would amass his fortune. He would make his money by having the apps send a text message to a premium rate number he had set up, this would get his small amount of cash however, the malware in the apps would also send him passwords and IDs to gamblings sites.
When the hacker was finally arrested a year later he confessed to his crimes and expressed that he didn’t do it for the money but rather he just wanted to do what he l0ves: program on his computer. It’s a little difficult to see that money wasn’t a factor considering he left the scheme running for a year. In the end, it’s interesting to see just how foolish people can be when installing applications after all, it only takes a little research to see that the app in question wasn’t a genuine app.
On the bright side, Google have been working to reduce malware in the Play Store with their bouncer project, however, it’s best to be on your toes and always do a little research when installing a popular app. The wolves will always go for the biggest group of sheep.