Monday, September 7, 2015

Mobile Lesson: Avoid Too-Good-To-Be-True Apps

Here is a post worth reading on Cult of Android about an app that is actually a malware that offers free porn that locks up the Android device after a while (the post does not say how long) and forces the user to pay $500 before it will allow the user to regain access to their mobile devices.

Let this be a lesson.  Never mind that this is a porn app for lonely Android users (it could happen to iPhone users who opt to jailbreak their iOS devices and install 3rd party apps as well), it can be any app that offers "free" this or that.  Nothing is free, folks.  Remember that.  There is always a gimmick these days and any other day.  

Apparently, this ransomware is very common and pops up on a regular basis.  The post does offer a solution on how you can avoid paying the ransom if you know someone stupid enough to have downloaded it.  I know for a FACT that none of my fellow mobile warriors who reads On Android would be caught in such a obviously devious scheme.  

Apparently, you just have to tell the person to google and figure out how to boot his/her device into the safe model, repeal any permission granted the app, remove it, and control should be returned to the user after that.  

As it is now, Google Play, Amazon's app store, or any number of third party app stores are porous enough that they sometimes allow copyrighted material or even malapps in that we have to be mindful of what apps we download, going out into the wild, wild Web and installing apps directly is just plainly not a good idea for most mobile warriors.  Especially if the app offers incentives or offer "free" services.



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