The Paralympics 2012 (any excuse to link to a cool Youtube video) ended in the last couple of days, bringing the whole Olympics 2012 event – itself a popular target for shenanigans – to a close. While you may still be on the lookout for useful Olympics themed applications for your phone, you should keep in mind that there are still plenty of “problematic” Android apps still vying for your attention.
Here we have an attempt at imitating the official Google Play website, located at iplay-andro7d(dot)net:
Click to Enlarge
The site itself – which has been around since July 2012 – is a bit of a Frankenstein creation, with the template apparently taken from a site registered in March 2012 and the ToS looking identical to another ToS hosted elsewhere. It also carries numerous other downloads claiming to be everything from Skype and Firefox to Instagram and Facebook, much like all the other fake Google Play stores out there.
Visitors will only be given an Android specific file if arriving via an Android device (a trick we’ve seen before) which will begin your journey into a land of unwanted SMS sending (check out a previous blog on OpFake for an insight into how these kind of SMS tactics take place).
We detect the file with VIPRE Mobile as Trojan.AndroidOS.Generic.A.
If you’re going to keep the Olympic Flame burning long after everybody else has folded up the flags and put away the bunting, please ensure you’re downloading files from the real Google Play site and not a pale imitation that manages to limp in last but still hand you the premium SMS sending baton.
There’s no Gold Medal for that.
Christopher Boyd (Thanks to Randall and Bo for additional information)
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