App alert: Four applications identified as major scamming risks

App alert: Four applications identified as major scamming risks
Credit: Belga / Laurie Dieffembacq

Four Android apps have been identified as potentially dangerous for users. In particular, users risk seeing their phone bills skyrocket.

Computer security specialist Pradeo is issuing the alert for four Android applications on the Google Play Store, which have reportedly been downloaded more than 100,000 times in recent days and pose a major security risk to users.

The apps in question are apps with very common names and are presented as translation, SMS, or health-tracking apps. The four apps are Smart SMS Messages, Blood Pressure Monitor, Voice Languages Translator and Quick Text SMS.

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In practice, if you have installed one of them, it is better to uninstall it as soon as possible. These are known as "shell" apps, which integrate a micro virus that will perform various tasks such as recovering personal data but also – and especially in the case of these four apps – sending SMS without your knowledge to premium-rate numbers. At the end of the month, you may have an unpleasant surprise on your bill with an excess of several tens or even hundreds of euros.

Smart SMS Message and Blood Pressure Monitor are even more dangerous since these two apps would be able to bypass two-factor authentication to make online purchases for you, without being notified.


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