Fake applications that are actually designed to steal personal data of users are increasingly targeting the users of phones based on Android. This is the conclusion reached by researchers from Trend Micro as part of its investigation.

The company took the top 50 free apps in Google Play and found that fraudsters forged 77% of all applications. Fake programs often look like real and have the same functions, but may be malicious.

Trend Micro from Tokyo has noted the existence of 890,482 fake applications as a result of a study conducted in April this year. More than half of them (394,263) were malicious, and 59,185 - were aggressive program adware.

The most common programs are fake antivirus programs. In some cases, user is asked to approve an administrator permission, which gives a wider access to programs and phone’s data. That is why the app is so difficult to remove later. 

Although many of fake applications exist on the forums, or third-party applications selling stores where security is weak or does not exist, fake applications can also be found on official online Google store.

Source:

Trendmicro.com