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While browsing Malaysiakini (a popular local media website in Malaysia) on an Android phone, one of our Fellows spotted this advertisement being displayed:
Clicking on the ad led to an external site displaying the following:
Sounds reminiscent of the kind of text we've seen for years on webpages pushing rogues for Windows systems.
Clicking on the 'Download and Scan Now' button leads to an image, which looks like an antivirus app:
Clicking on the image brings you to a page that asks for your phone number and displays some interesting text:
"This is an ongoing subscription service until you quit. You will receive 4 sms per week and chargeable at RM4 per message. Only [REMOVED] user will receives max 3 sms per week and chargeable at RM4 per message. Data charges are billed separately by mobile operators."
So, it's an SMS subscription service. If a phone number is entered, the user gets an SMS message with registration instructions for the service.
Once registered, another SMS is sent providing a download link. When we tried the link, the only thing we got was a message saying 'Sorry, you have exceeded the allowed download limit'.
Fortunately, the SMS with the registration instructions also included instructions for stopping the service.
We normally recommend users read the permissions requested when downloading a mobile app. In this case, reading the text before downloading would also be prudent. This was probably not the service a user was looking for when they clicked on the ad.
Browsing Protection currently rates the site hosting the APK download as Suspicious.
On 06/06/13 At 07:03 AM
Weiterlesen...
Clicking on the ad led to an external site displaying the following:
Sounds reminiscent of the kind of text we've seen for years on webpages pushing rogues for Windows systems.
Clicking on the 'Download and Scan Now' button leads to an image, which looks like an antivirus app:
Clicking on the image brings you to a page that asks for your phone number and displays some interesting text:
"This is an ongoing subscription service until you quit. You will receive 4 sms per week and chargeable at RM4 per message. Only [REMOVED] user will receives max 3 sms per week and chargeable at RM4 per message. Data charges are billed separately by mobile operators."
So, it's an SMS subscription service. If a phone number is entered, the user gets an SMS message with registration instructions for the service.
Once registered, another SMS is sent providing a download link. When we tried the link, the only thing we got was a message saying 'Sorry, you have exceeded the allowed download limit'.
Fortunately, the SMS with the registration instructions also included instructions for stopping the service.
We normally recommend users read the permissions requested when downloading a mobile app. In this case, reading the text before downloading would also be prudent. This was probably not the service a user was looking for when they clicked on the ad.
Browsing Protection currently rates the site hosting the APK download as Suspicious.
On 06/06/13 At 07:03 AM
Weiterlesen...