Kaspersky Lab has warned users of two new fake AV apps doing the rounds on the Windows Phone and Google Play app stores which are designed to look like legitimate mobile security applications.
Both require upfront payment, according to Roman Unuchek, an “expert” at the Moscow-based anti-malware vendor.
The first is called “Kaspersky Mobile” and can be found on the Windows Phone Store.
“This fake app pretends to carry out some useful activity such as ‘scanning’ files,” Unuchek wrote in a blog post.
“But look closely at the screenshot and you will see that as well as showing 'scan progress' it is supposedly performing a ‘heuristic analysis’. As a rule, anti-virus solutions don’t display a separate progress bar for a heuristic analysis.”
The second, which can be found on Google Play, is labelled as “Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2014” – like the first fake AV app, it’s a name which Kaspersky Lab itself does not use for any of its products.
“The fake app does absolutely nothing to protect the user’s device – the creators didn’t even bother to add a simulation of a scanner,” wrote Unuchek.
“Instead of a security solution the buyer gets nothing more than a fake app whose functionality is limited to random statements along the lines of a Magic 8-Ball set against a background of the Kaspersky Anti-Virus logo. Kaspersky Lab products detect the app as Trojan-FakeAV.AndroidOS.Wkas.a.”
The scammers appear to have packaged several other fake apps including Google Chrome Pro, Avira, Internet Explorer and Opera Mobile.
Also listed is Virus Shield – a fake AV app by “Deviant Solutions” that surfaced in April and even managed to jump to the top of the paid app charts on Google Play before being taken down.
“It is quite possible that more and more of these fake apps will start appearing. One thing is for sure – the mechanisms put in place by the official stores are clearly unable to combat scams like this,” said Unuchek.