Scammers create fake Instagram app on Android
According to security company Sophos, a Russian web site has sprung up which offers a fake version of the popular Instagram app for Android. The Russian language site emulates the look of the official Instagram product page but the download link doesn't lead to the actual app on Google's Play store. Users who download the program from the Russian site get a fake app instead that sends out premium SMS text messages in the background which are used to earn revenue for the scammers.
Interestingly, the app includes a mystery picture of a man cut out from a Russian wedding photo. Apparently, the man has become somewhat of a Russian internet meme because of his casual clothing style in the photograph. Sophos speculates that the photo might have been included to fool anti-virus scanners by changing the signature of the application's APK file. It might also simply have been included as a meme-based joke.
Recently, another group of spammers released a fake version of the Angry Birds game to several third party application download sites. The application functioned like the real game but included additional functions to gain root rights on the device and download more malicious code in the background.
(Source: h-online.com)
