Google has deleted 22 applications from the Play Store after being installed over 2 million times in users devices. The applications had been programmed in such a way as to be able to generate false clicks on advertising banners, thus generating illicit revenue for the programmers.
The applications, discovered thanks to SophosLabs, were hosted for a long time in the Play Store and used a special technique to deceive advertising systems. In fact, most of them pretended to be running on an iOS device, in order to increase revenue thanks to the earnings guaranteed by advertising banners on Apple devices.
The applications in question opened the advertising banners in hidden windows of the browser (0 pixels high x 0 pixels wide) and generated false interactions with them, in order to get as much money as possible. The operation was made independent of the offending applications, so the gains were made even if the app was closed.
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Following is the list of applications excluded from the Play Store by Google, we advise you to uninstall them from your smartphone if they were present:
- Sparkle FlashLight
- Snake Attack
- Math Solver
- ShapeSorter
- Tak A Trip
- Magnifeye
- Join Up
- Zombie Killer
- Space Rocket
- Neon Pong
- Just Flashlight
- Table Soccer
- Cliff Diver
- Box Stack
- Jelly Slice
- AK Blackjack
- Color Tiles
- Animal Match
- Roulette Mania
- HexaFall
- HexaBlocks
- PairZap