Watch out! This Android app is capable of creating fake accounts with your name

We frequently warn you about apps that pretend to be legitimate tools but are actually intent on stealing your information or signing you up for paid services. But this time the warning comes from one that is capable of copying your identity and generating fake accounts with your name on various platforms.

There are several famous cases of people stealing someone else’s data to create accounts on social networks and deceive others. This technique is known as catfish and even series have been created about it.

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But in this case, it is not a user who is based on someone else’s data to create false profiles, but an app that has been available in the Google Play Store.

Symoo, the app that steals your identity and creates fake profiles

A few weeks ago it was discovered that an application available in the Play Store for Android devices Its purpose was to collect user data until it had enough elements to generate accounts on platforms such as Facebook, Google and WhatsApp.

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The app was denounced by security researcher Maxime Ingrao who warned that it had exceeded more than 100,000 downloads.

This is Symoo (com.vanjan.sms) an application that was promoted as an SMS message management tool but in reality, and without the user noticing, it was in charge of transmitting personal information to a server and then creating false profiles.

Once the application had the necessary data to generate the accounts, when the platforms sent confirmation messages to the cell phone, such as when opening a WhatsApp account, Symoo was in charge of intercepting those SMS.

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In this way, according to Ingrao, the malware was capable of hiding the interface of the received SMS so that the user would not notice the subscriptions to the different services.

Did you download Symoo? You probably have fake accounts.

After the complaint about the true intentions of Symoo Fake victim profiles have been found on platforms such as Amazon, Discord, Facebook, Google, Instagram, Microsoft, Nike, Telegram, TikTok, Viber, WhatsApp, and even Tinder.

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And the risk is not only in the creation of the accounts, but also that the data collected by the malware is leaked to a domain called “goomy[.]fun”, which had already been found in another malicious application called Virtual Number.

However, it must be made clear that Google has already removed the two applications from the Play Store and that the developer was banned.

What to do if you have the infected app?

If you recognize the Symoo app on your cell phone, don’t wait any longer and delete it immediately. To do this, go to the settings menu of your smartphone, then to the applications section to display all the ones you have downloaded, select the one you want and first click stop. Then select the delete option.

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And so that the chances of getting infected with malware through an app are minimal, follow the following advice from Kaspersky:

GDA / The Universe / Mexico

Source: Elcomercio

Callum

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