NEW DELHI, Aug 31 (Agencies): A rise in financial frauds being perpetrated through malicious Android applications masquerading as pornography apps and circulated through Facebook and Instagram advertisements, has been observed by the Home Ministry’s cyber crime arm Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C).
These are being circulated through Facebook and Instagram advertisements operating under the names “Night Play”, “Reloop”, “Kyss”, “Vimo”, “Rivo”, “Nexo”, “Vixa” and other similar variants.
These applications are primarily distributed through advertisements on Facebook and Instagram, which redirect to websites serving pornographic content, where the user is prompted to download the APK.
After installation, the app requests permissions that allow it to install additional applications and by abusing accessibility permission, take control of the users’ device, which may result in financial fraud.
Some apps also install a VPN, which may be used to route internet traffic pertaining to malicious/criminal activity. The app may prevent users from uninstalling it through the device settings.