Secure-D researchers have discovered that the Snaptube app authorizes paid service subscriptions by stealing users’ money. How to defend yourself
Secure-D has discovered yet another, yet another, scam app on Google’s Play Store. It’s called Snaptube, it’s for downloading videos from YouTube and other platforms, but it can create huge financial damage to those who use it.
The security company specializing in anti-fraud software, in fact, has blocked more than 70 million suspicious transactions in the last six months alone. Had they not been blocked, these transactions would have led to the unknowing purchase of paid services for a total cost of 91 million dollars. Further damage, which cannot be quantified, was also done to advertising platforms because Snaptube also contains adware that generates automatic clicks on banner ads. Most of the suspicious activity came from Egypt, Brazil, Sri Lanka, South Africa and Malaysia.
How Snaptube steals our money
Secure-D researchers were alarmed when they saw all these suspicious transactions. They immediately noticed that they were coming from the Snaptube app and, so, they tried to replicate this behavior on two Android devices: a Samsung J1 (2016 edition) and a Huawei P10 Lite. The researchers noticed that SMS verification messages were sent to both devices, through which the scam consisting in the subscription of paid services was conveyed without any intervention from the user. Another anomalous behavior of this app is the loading of invisible ads, on which automatic clicks are generated to scam ad networks as well.
How to defend yourself against Snaptube
Scam mobile apps and mobile ad fraud continue to be a growing problem for everyone. To avoid falling victim to unwanted purchases or losing prepaid credit, users (especially Android users) should frequently check their phones to see if suspicious apps are installed. If so, such apps should be uninstalled immediately and their credit checked. Such apps are more frequently found on third-party app stores, which perform less stringent checks before publishing them, but by now it’s clear that not even the Google Play Store is an absolute guarantee of safety. The only guarantee, at this point, is caution: having a lot of it, before installing any app, is essential. Check the reviews, discarding the extremely positive ones that could be fake, is a good way to get an idea about the reliability of the app before downloading it on your smartphone. Finally, install an Android antivirus, there are some great ones available for free on the Google Play Store.