Google has removed more than 30 scareware apps in the Google Play store that were discovered by ESET researchers to be posing as Minecraft cheats.
None of the apps discovered offered the promised content and were instead designed to scam the users, according to welivesecurity.com.
After an application was launched, a screen would fill with advertisement banners while the application itself would have Start, Options, and Exit buttons. Any user interaction with the application led to an alert window popping up to notifying users to a virus. Clicking the alert led to several websites with more scareware messaging. The endgame of the scam was to trick the user into agreeing to send an SMS confirming they would pay 4.80 Euro ($5.22) per week to remove the “virus.”
All of the apps appeared to be designed by one person.