WhatsApp was used to trick over 1 million Android fans around the world, the messaging app being perfect for those who wanted to distribute a little malware. We are talking about the fact that a fake WhatsApp application was published in Google Play and was downloaded by over 1 million Android users in a very short period of time, proving once again how big the security problem is in the operating system.
WhatsApp already has an application available for Android users in Google Play, but the fake application published there was made to look very much like the original one and more than 1 million people were fooled. The application was called Update WhatsApp Messenger and it seems that over 1 million people believed that it was made by the WhatsApp company and not by an obscure developer who wants to infect phones with malware.
WhatsApp was the brand used for the most successful hoax so far, this being the first application that clones a popular one and has over 1 million downloads from Google Play. The fake version of WhatsApp is not the only application that imitates a popular one, fake versions of Facebook, Instagram, Facebook messenger, etc., have also been published in Google Play, but none have had such success.
WhatsApp – 1 million Android fans fooled by a fake application
WhatsApp certainly notified Google about the problem, but those from Mountain View did not rush to remove the fake application in order not to endanger users. Despite this, the big problem is that an application of this kind was published in Google Play from the very beginning, the store not having any kind of verification for the published applications, so the fake WhatsApp application fooled a lot of people.
WhatsApp is the biggest messaging platform on the planet at the moment, and the cloned application was successful precisely because of this, Google Play proving to be the perfect platform for cheating. Google is constantly trying to increase the security of Android users who download applications from Google Play, but unfortunately it has big problems, as demonstrated by this WhatsApp application.
WhatsApp does not have similar problems in iOS because Apple secures its AppStore very well, so users cannot download fake applications of this kind. The applications in the AppStore are thoroughly checked by Apple employees before they are published, so you will never be able to download a fake WhatsApp application from the Cupertino store, but for iOS there is no malware anyway.
