Since the day Flappy Bird creator Dong Nguyen removed the most loved avian hero-themed mobile game from Apple’s App Store and Google Play Store, both the store saw the entry of new wannabes.
While many offer no harm, others are reported to have security problems as they are malware-filled versions which are popping up on alternative Android marketplaces.
The malicious versions of Flappy Bird look quite similar to the original Flappy Bird which embraces the same app icon and gameplay. Nevertheless the infected apps are striving hard to consume over your phone’s or device’s ability to send and receive text messages so that prices charged for messaging premium numbers can be racked up.
TrendLabs reports say that most of the fake and malicious versions target sending messages to premium numbers and thereby causing undesirable billing in one’s phone statement through premium service abusers. Besides this virus infected mobile apps are mostly seen in alternative Russian and Vietnamese markets according to the blogs.
A Security Blog by Sophos reported quite similar frauds which try to make fool of users by tricking them into messaging them from their premium numbers by saying that the free trial version has been expired and that they need to activate the full service by sending a text message.
Don’t forget that the original version of interesting game Flappy Bird was fully free with no need of sending any message or trying hands on a trial version or requiring you to pay some amount for that matter. Moreover the developer of the game did not earn anything buy selling the app rather he made money by the ads presented along with the game.
Android users were also warned by Naked Security blog that they should be extra cautious while downloading apps from alternative Android stores. Besides they can also install security or anti-virus software on their devices to save them from any virus or malicious versions.
Moreover it is recommended that android users do not download apps from any third-party makrketplace and should also save their settings as security settings enables which will lend some extra protection to the device.