When you download an app from the Google Play Store or Apple’s App Store, you expect the download to be legit. You definitely don’t expect the app to infect your phone with viruses and other types of malware. Sadly, that is not always the case.
It’s also exactly what happened with the Android app, CamScanner, on the Google Play store.
The Android CamScanner app was reportedly spreading malware to users of the app
The app was intended to accurately scan and manage documents using your phone’s camera, but according to Kaspersky Labs, the app in recent months had started to spread malware to users’ devices. CamScanner had been downloaded over 100 million times and had approximately 1.8 million reviews when it was taken down.
Kaspersky Labs noticed that recently it was receiving quite a few 1-star reviews which prompted them to look into the issue.
What they found was malicious code injected into the app’s ad library that was causing users to see multiple intrusive ads and even signing users up for mobile subscriptions without their knowledge.
According to Kaspersky, “It can be assumed that the reason why this malware was added was the app developers’ partnership with an unscrupulous advertiser.”
The app (at least the free, ad-supported version) has now been removed from the Google Play Store. If you were using the app, restart your Android phone in safe mode, delete the app, and run something like Avast to check for malware.
What do you think? Were you using this app? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.
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