Recently there has been a huge resurgence of interest in FaceApp, particularly the app’s new-and-improved ability to take user photos and generate creepily realistic versions of what they’d look like if they were super old. That resurgence in interest also led to a round of backlash from those who have accused Russian makers of FaceApp of violating user privacy.
How concerned you should really be about FaceApp’s potential privacy violations is debatable. But there’s a much clearer security concern related to the app, one involving bad actors who are tricking users into downloading a fake version of FaceApp that can fill your phone with malware.
An Indonesia-based antivirus company, ESET, recently raised alarms about a fake “FaceApp Pro” that they say has already been downloaded by over 10,000 Indonesians. And instead of containing the actual full-featured version of FaceApp (which costs IDR 589,000 or US$42), the fake download misleads users into installing malware that would see their phones getting clogged with advertisements and other stealth money-makers.
“In fact, scammers tricked their victims into clicking countless offers to install other applications containing paid subscriptions, advertisements, surveys, and so on,” ESET IT security consultant Yudhi Kukuh told the media yesterday as quoted by CNN Indonesia.
Yudhi explained that users did not download the fake FaceApp Pro via the official Google Play store (which audits apps to make sure they don’t contain malware) but instead through a third party site called mediafire.com. He said that most were tricked into downloading it via Youtube advertisement (so ultimately Google, which owns Youtube, still shares some of the blame).
The IT security consultant advised smart device users to only download apps via the official stores and to generally be more aware of dangerous malware masquerading as legitimate apps.
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