Today, digitalization is becoming more and more deeply rooted in life, and mobile apps have become an indispensable part of daily life. However, while the App brings convenience to us, it has also attracted the "attention" of criminals, and the copycat App has become one of the tools for criminals to carry out illegal crimes, ranging from implanting advertisements, consuming traffic, and maliciously deducting fees, and stealing personal information, online banking, payment passwords, etc., endangering the security of people's property information.
The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology's anti-fraud task force recently found that some criminals have targeted the brand and data value of well-known manufacturers' apps, and counterfeited various copycat apps.
Zhen Zhen, an expert of the anti-fraud work team of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology: The routines of counterfeit apps to confuse users are roughly divided into two categories, one is the pursuit of 1:1 high imitation, using the same or highly similar icon or name as the genuine version. The other is to cover up the differences between the international version and the special version of a certain App by fictitious version of the App and the genuine App to reduce the vigilance of users.
It is understood that these copycat apps often increase the installation rate and retention rate by casting a wide net, and at the same time try their best to circumvent supervision. Generally, counterfeit apps will not be listed on regular app stores, and usually have not undergone security compliance audits, and there are risks such as excessive collection of personal information and illegal access to mobile phone permissions.
1. Copycat apps steal information and money through a variety of means
What are the typical deceptive routines of copycat apps? Experts from the anti-fraud work team combined a copycat app to conduct an analysis.
This is a fake WeChat App installed through a download link, and it is almost indistinguishable from the genuine WeChat from the icon and name.
Liu Yanyan, an expert in the anti-fraud work team of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology: After clicking to open this fake WeChat App, it will first jump to a chat interface, and then immediately switch to an interface that requires us to enter the account number and password. This process looks like we encountered some abnormalities when logging in, and we need to do a verification of identity. Once the user enters the ID card and account password here, the fraudster will obtain the identity information from the background, plus the App itself can obtain the local phone number from the mobile phone, which is equivalent to the fraudster has a full set of WeChat account information, and can carry out subsequent fraud.
In addition to stealing personal information, some copycat apps will also attract users to trade and recharge to defraud money.
Zhen Zhen, an expert of the anti-fraud work team of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology: One is a counterfeit e-commerce platform, which guides users to shop, swipe orders and other operations in the counterfeit app; The other is to use the banner of well-known Internet companies to fabricate some gambling and pornographic illegal apps to lure users to recharge, such as this online gambling fraud App called "Tencent Lottery", which has nothing to do with Tencent at all, but users may not be able to distinguish it.
2. Copycat apps have a high risk of fraud and virus spread
The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology's anti-fraud work team reminds that some copycat apps will also steal mobile phone traffic or make phone calls by implanting viruses, and may even steal dynamic verification codes to secretly transfer user funds. In addition, users should not easily trust so-called software such as likes and idle to earn coins, which usually have a high risk of fraud and virus transmission.
3. You should be cautious about downloading apps from formal channels for authorization
Which apps are easy to be counterfeited, and how can users identify and prevent copycat apps?
Liu Yanyan, an expert of the anti-fraud work team of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology: From the perspective of type, in addition to financial apps, e-commerce platforms, chat tools, and social platforms are relatively easy to be counterfeited.
In order to help ordinary users identify counterfeit apps, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology's anti-fraud work team has launched a pilot project on anti-fraud electronic identification of financial and securities apps in conjunction with relevant departments, and will further expand the scope of application of electronic identification of apps in the future.
Liu Yanyan, an expert of the anti-fraud work team of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology: Users should avoid being deceived, or try to choose formal channels, formal official websites or regular app stores when downloading the App. When registering and using the app, you should carefully read the terms of service and authorization agreement, and prevent some sensitive data, such as location, photo album, and address book, from being carefully granted these permissions.
Police Tips:
1. Download from official channels. Try to choose the official app store to download the app and avoid downloading malware from unknown sources or illegal channels.
2. Be cautious about granting permissions. When an app applies for authorization, it should grant authorization according to the needs of the app, and do not blindly agree to avoid unnecessary information leakage.
3. Raise awareness of prevention. Do not trust the information and recommendations of strangers, especially when it comes to property matters, always be vigilant, and be cautious about money transactions.
4. Call the police for help in time. If you find that you have been deceived or encounter a suspicious situation, call the police on 110 or 96110 for consultation.
5. If clues about counterfeit or fraudulent apps are discovered, they may send a report to the mailbox ([email protected]) of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology's anti-fraud work team.
Source: CCTV News
Review: Li Chenxue
Braided hair: Ma Kai
Material arrangement: Lu Xinwei, Shi Jiaojiao