SINGAPORE — Among the recent spate of online scams involving huge losses, many seem to stem from the installation of malware through third-party applications meant for Android mobile devices.
on TikTok and dating apps, requesting that users click on a malicious link to continue the engagement
This could allow them to steal victims’ passwords, while malware with keylogging capabilities means that scammers could retrieve the victims’ banking credentials. In April this year, the police and CSA issued a joint advisory against downloading apps from third-party or dubious sites.in the device, which in turn may result in confidential and sensitive data such as banking credentials being stolen.Mr Aman Dayal, head of regional trust and safety operations for Google Play Asia Pacific, said that Android was built as an “open-source mobile operating system”.
Experts told TODAY that although this openness means less restrictions for users and their devices, the exposure to more risks is there. Android devices block the download of unknown apps by default, but if users disable this default setting, they can easily install “unknown” APK files that are not from the official Google Play Store.
The Google Play Protect, a built-in tool on the Google Play Store, sends users a notification with options to remove, disable or uninstall a potentially harmful app, if found. However, an unwitting user who may not truly understand the warnings may simply grant permission to an app to bypass the default setting.
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