Zinky, Inc Scam in Android Market
James Cushing on 5 December at 6:44 pm
Zinky Scam Apps
After their recent failure to scam Android users into buying fake Rovio Mobile, Ltd apps, it looks like scamming developers have struck again. They’ve taken a lower profile name this time, that of Zinky Inc, but the threat is no less prevalent. A host of new apps, impersonating real apps, have gone up on the Market and have already taken in a few customers. Once again, if you read the reviews from the customers that downloaded these apps, they do nothing but redirect you to scam websites. Visiting the developer’s website leads you to dead links, like this one:
zinky.co.in
The apps to watch out for this time are:
- Modern Combat 3: Fallen Nation
- Backstab 3D
- Samurai II: Vengeance THD
- Eternal Legacy HD
- F2M Live TV on Mobile
- DirecTV 1.3
- The Settlers HD
- OperaMini Handler UI
The big difference between these apps, and those involved in the Rovio scam last week, is that these apps are not asking for money. They’re free downloads, and the scam comes in when you run the app and get redirected to a website. However, were you to ignore the website redirect, there is also a concern with the permissions. Some of these apps request some pretty shady permissions, such as the ability to read and send text messages, make phone calls, log keystrokes, get full internet access, and start on boot.
Remember that you should always check permissions on any app you download. If something seems questionable, ask the developer. If they can’t give you a good explanation as to why their app needs a specific permission, it’s probably a good idea to stay away from it. You can also try shopping Amazon’s app store. Apps are screened for malicious code before going out to the public, however, you still need to monitor permissions on those apps. Just because an app has no malicious code, excessive permissions can cause you problems.
We’ve alerted Google to this issue, and hope to hear back from them soon.
