Beware of WhatsApp clone apps

Using WhatsApp on a smartphone? In fact, it is not a fake app? Recently, cyber fraudsters have come up with new ways to trap WhatsApp users. An app that looks exactly like WhatsApp has been launched. Malware protection and internet security firm ESER has reported that India is one of the countries with the highest number of malware attacks on Android phones in the world. The number of malware infections increased by about 9.5 percent from the previous year. Modified apps like GB WhatsApp have done this.

The user interface of these fake apps is exactly like the real WhatsApp. Customers also get additional features in these apps than the original app. Due to that greed, many customers of countries like India started using this fake app. According to the report, these fake Trojan apps carry malware. Malicious apps start recording audio and video through the phone's microphone and camera without the user's knowledge. These fake apps can grab all the information about what you are doing in your daily life from your phone without your knowledge. Which uses phone data that gets into the hands of fraudsters.

ESET says the biggest culprit in this work is GB WhatsApp. Which is a popular third-party WhatsApp client. Many people install this fake app instead of using the real WhatsApp because of the extra features. But such apps cannot be downloaded from Play Store. Only original WhatsApp can be downloaded there.

WhatsApp will temporarily ban those accounts if they continue to use the messaging app using such fake apps. Countries like Egypt, Brazil, India and Peru have seen a higher trend of using such fake apps.

What to do to stay safe?

Download WhatsApp only from the official store. Download this messaging app from Play Store for Android users and an App Store for iOS users.

Check the developer and reviews before installing the app. If in doubt, double check.

You can install antivirus to protect your smartphone.

WhatsApp is that the most well-liked electronic messaging application within the world. About 40 crore users regularly use WhatsApp in India alone. The messaging app also has 10 core active users in Brazil, 7.5 crore in the US and 6.8 crore in Indonesia.

Source: online News site