Deceptive Android Apps Exploit Google Play Early Access to Evade Reviews
Google Play’s Early Access program for Android apps allows developers to gather useful feedback from early adopters for app improvement before final release. It lets users try unreleased, in-development apps or games before their official public launch. The conversation is from user to developer, not between users. The program consequently includes no facility for inter-user recommendations, ratings or warnings.
Dubious actors are exploiting this lack of public ratings and reviews by adding deceptive apps to the program, and then driving users through external advertising to download apps directly from the Early Access program.
A typical process, outlined by Bitdefender, is for an app to be ‘advertised’ through TikTok or Facebook with promised cash rewards (PayPal payouts, cryptocurrency earnings, gift cards, free spins or casino jackpots). But after installation, the promised payout never arrives.
“Instead,” warns Bitdefender, “the application continues serving advertisement after advertisement, which is likely the intended use for...
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