Sophos researches have reported that 23 ‘fleeceware’ apps have been found in the Google Play Store. Those apps have tried to lure users to pay some crazy subscription fees.
Some of you are probably wondering what are ‘fleeceware’ apps? Well, these apps do not contain malicious code, or anything like that. They are not trying to steal your data, or take over your device.
23 ‘fleeceware’ apps are trying to scam Play Store users
Due to all that, they’re quite tricky. They do not have malware, so there’s nothing for Google to catch and block them, really. ‘Fleeceware’ apps are relying on scams, usually with hidden, very excessive subscription fees.
Well, Sophos researchers found 25 such apps in the Google Play Store, seven months ago. As a response, Google had decided to update its developer policies. Some new directives have been installed to try and fend off fleeceware.
Fast forward seven months, and there are still quite a few fleeceware apps trying to scam users, 23 of them that Sophos researchers found. The company highlighted that fleeceware creators use a “blind subscription” model that doesn’t really reveal the amount of subscription that the user needs to pay.
Some of these apps are using a “spam subscription” model. This model activates once a user signs up, as it serves the user a ton of different apps, aside from the one it subscribed to.
Tricking users to a huge subscription model is the most common scam that fleeceware apps play around with. These sums can be really, really high.
These apps charge as much as $249.99 for a yearly subscription
In any case, these newly-discovered fleeceware apps are trying to charge as much as $249.99 for a yearly subscription. You can see the full list of them down below.
Some of these apps have been tweaking their interface and description text. Sophos claims there’s also a loophole in Google’s policy regarding how much an app can charge.
That rule does not specify the duration of the subscription that can charge that maximum amount. That is an issue, of course, as some developers are trying to take advantage of that.
Google is doing a good job fending off malware, but it seems like fleeceware apps are still able to find their way to the Play Store. Granted, such apps are much, much harder to spot. We do hope that the company will find a more successful way to fend them off.