When a user installs one of the apps, the app checks their location, International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI), and phone number to determine which country area code and language to use for the scam.
The above table shows the top 10 countries where the apps have been downloaded,Īccording to Sensor Tower How UltimaSMS scams users Avast has traced the earliest UltimaSMS samples to May 2021 and new samples from the campaign were released earlier this month, meaning that the scam is still ongoing. The apps have been most downloaded by users in the Middle East, such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, followed by users in the US and Poland. UltimaSMS appears to be a global campaign, as according to insights from Sensor Tower, a mobile apps marketing intelligence and insights company, the apps have been downloaded by users from over 80 countries. The fake apps I found feature a wide range of categories such as custom keyboards, QR code scanners, video and photo editors, spam call blockers, camera filters, and games, among others. I have dubbed the campaign “UltimaSMS”, because one of the first apps I discovered was called Ultima Keyboard 3D Pro. This leads me to believe that one bad actor or group is behind the entire campaign. These apps have been downloaded more than 10.5 million times, and are nearly identical in structure and functionality essentially copies of the same fake app used to spread the premium SMS scam campaign. The apps that I discovered are part of the UltimaSMS campaign, consisting of 151 apps that at one point or another had been available for download on the Google Play Store. This led to their swift removal from the Google Play Store.
Last week, I reported 80 apps belonging to a premium SMS scam campaign, which signs victims up for expensive premium SMS services that earn a bad actor or actors money while ultimately leaving victims completely empty-handed, to Google’s Security Team.
0 kommentar(er)
