200 malicious Android and iOS apps draining bank accounts — check your phone now
These bad apps can steal quite a lot of data from vulnerable smartphones
If you need another reminder to be careful when downloading new apps for your devices, a new batch of malicious apps has been discovered stealing both data and money from unsuspecting users.
As reported by Laptop Mag, these 203 malicious iOS and Android apps were first discovered by Thailand’s Ministry of Digital Economy and Society (DES) and the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC). DES made the decision to inform the public about these bad apps on its Facebook page after they were found stealing personal information, draining users’ bank accounts, remotely taking control of infected smartphones and being used to commit identity theft.
The apps in question cover a wide variety of categories from chat apps to photo filters to custom keyboards and PDF convertors. However, the one thing they all share in common is the fact that they contain malware and perform other malicious actions once installed on your smartphone.
Neither DES or the NCSC has shared any additional info on which malware strain these apps are spreading to vulnerable smartphones, just that they’re dangerous. Both organizations are also working with Google and Apple to have these apps removed from their respective app stores.
For this reason, you should remove any of these apps if they’re installed on either your Android smartphone or iPhone. While the security researchers who have discovered large batches of bad apps like this in the past have differentiated which apps are for iOS or Android, that isn’t the case here, so you’ll need to go through the list of apps below yourself and see if any of them stick out.
Delete these apps now
To save you the trouble of having to go through DES’ Facebook post, we’ve compiled the full list of these 203 malicious apps below. If any of them are installed on your smartphone or tablet, it’s highly recommended that you remove them immediately.
- 4K Pro Camera
- 4K Wallpapers Auto Changer
- Advanced SMS
- aipic - Magic Photo Editor
- All Good PDF Scanner
- All Language Translate
- All Photo Translator
- Art Filters
- Astro + Horoscope & Astrology
- Astroline: The Daily Horoscope
- Auto Sticker Maker Studio
- Avatar Maker Character Creator
- Baby Sticker- Track Milestones
- Bass Booster Volume Power Amp
- Battery Charging Animations Battery Wallpaper
- Battery Charging Animations Bubble -Effects
- Beat.ly Music Video Maker
- Beat maker pro
- Beauty Filter
- Blood Pressure Checker
- Blood Pressure Diary
- Blue Scanner
- Blur Image
- Caller Theme
- CallMe Phone Themes
- Call Skins
- Camera Translator
- Care Message
- Cartoons Me
- Cashe Cleaner
- Chat Online
- Chat SMS
- Chat Text SMS
- Classic Emoji Keyboard
- Classic Game Messenger
- Coco camera v1.1
- Come Messages
- Contact Background
- Cool Keyboard
- Cool Messages
- Creative 3D Launcher
- Creative Emoji Keyboard
- Custom Themed Keyboard
- Cut, Paste
- Dazz Cam- D3D Photo Effect
- Dazzle – Insta stories editor
- Dazzling Keyboard
- Design Maker
- Desire Translate
- Direct Messenger
- Dizzi
- DJ it!
- Drink Water
- Drums: Play Beats & Drum Games
- Easy PDF Scanner
- edjing Mix
- edjing Pro
- EmojiOne Keyboard
- Emoji Theme Keyboard
- Equalizer+ HD music player
- Equalizer Fx: Bass Booster App
- Facelab
- FaceMe
- Facetory: Face Yoga & Exercise
- Fancy Charging
- Fancy SMS
- Flashlight Flash Alert On Call
- FLMX
- Fonts Emoji Keyboard
- Frame
- Frames
- Freeglow Camera 1.0.0
- Funny Caller
- Funny Camera
- Funny Emoji Message
- Funny Keyboard
- Funny Wallpapers – Live Scree
- Gif Emoji Keyboard
- Girl Games: Unicorn Slime
- Guitar Play – Games & Songs
- Guitar – real games & lessons
- Guitar Tuner – Ukulele & Bass
- Halloween Coloring
- Handset – Second Phone Number
- Heart Emoji Stickers
- Highlight Story Cover Maker!
- Hi Text SMS
- Horoscope 2019 and Palm Reader
- Hub – Story Templates Maker
- Hummingbird PDF Converter – Photo to PDF
- Hyper Cleaner: Clean Phone
- iCons - Icon Changer App +
- iMessager
- Impresso
- Instant Messenger
- iWidget Pro
- Jambl: DJ Band & Beat Maker
- Jigsaw Puzzle
- Karaoke Songs
- Life Palmistry
- Lift: Story Maker
- Light Messages
- Live Wallpaper Maker: 4K Theme
- Loop Maker Pro
- Lucky Life
- MagicFX – Magic Video Effects
- Magic Photo Editor
- Memoristo: Brain Test, IQ Game
- Memory Silent Camera
- Menu Maker!
- Meticulous Scanner
- Metronome Pro – Beat & Tempo
- Metronome – Tap Tempo & Rhythm
- Mini PDF Scanner
- Mint Leaf Message-Your Private Message
- Mood Balance: Self Care Tracker
- Music Zen – Relaxing Sounds
- MyCall – Call Personalization
- Nebula: Horoscope & Astrology
- Neon Theme Keyboar
- NewScrean: 4D Wallpapers
- Notes – reminders and lists
- Now QRcode Scan
- One Sentence Translator – Multifunctional Translator
- Painting Photo Editor
- Paper Doc Scanner
- Part Message
- Password Manager
- Path – Horoscope & Astrology
- PDF Scanner: Document Scan
- Personal Message
- Photo Collage
- Photo Editor & Background Eraser
- Photo Editor – Filters Effects
- Photo & Exif Editor
- Photo Filters & Effects
- Photoly Remove Object & Editor
- Photo To Sketch
- Piano Crush
- Piano
- Pista
- Pixomatic
- Poco Launcher
- Premium SMS
- Presets for Lightroom
- Private Game Messages
- Private Messenger
- Private SMS
- Professional Messenger
- Quick Talk Message
- Razer Keyboard & Theme
- RECOLLECT
- Retouch & Cutout
- Rich Theme Message
- Ringtones HD
- ScanGuru
- Scanner App
- Send SMS
- Simple Note Scanner
- SlidePic
- Slimy
- Smart Messages
- Smart SMS Messages
- Smart TV remote
- Smile Emoji
- Social Message
- SpeedPro Slow speed video edit
- Stickerfy: Sticker Maker
- Sticker Maker
- Stickers & GIF
- Stock Wallpapers & Backgrounds
- Style Message
- Style Photo Collage
- Super Hero-Effect
- Sweet Pics - Baby Photo Edito
- Talent Photo Editor - Blur focus
- Tangram App Lock
- TeasEar: ASMR Slime Antistress
- Text Emoji SMS
- Text SMS
- Themes Chat Messenger
- Themes Photo Keyboard
- Timestamp Camera
- ToonApp Cartoon Photo Editor
- Translate Camera - Speak On
- Translator Guru: Voice & Text
- UltraFX - Effect Video Maker
- Unicc QR Scanner
- Unique Keyboard
- Universal PDF Scanner
- Vanilla Snap Camera
- Video Puzzles - Magic Puzzle
- Ringtones HD ∙ Ringtone Maker
- VOCHI Video Effects Editor
- Volume Booster Hearing Aid
- Volume Booster Louder Sound Equalizer
- Water Reminder
- WeDrum: Drums, Real Drum Games
- Widget PLUS+ – Photo & Weather
- Wow Beauty Camera
- Wow Translator
- Yoga- For Beginner to Advanced
- YouToon - AI Cartoon Effect
How to stay safe from malicious apps on Android and iOS
When it comes to staying safe from malicious apps, the first thing you need to do is to be extremely cautious when installing new software on your smartphone. Even if you’re downloading an app from an official app store, it could still be malicious. As such, you should always check app reviews and ratings in the store first before downloading anything. As app reviews can be faked though, you should also look for external reviews on other sites or even better — video reviews showing the app in action.
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If you use one of the best Android phones, you should ensure that Google Play Protect is enabled as it continually scans your existing apps as well as any new ones you download for malware. At the same time, you may also want to install one of the best Android antivirus apps for additional protection.
Despite Google and Apple’s best efforts, bad apps will likely continue to slip through their defenses. For this reason, you should keep the old adage “if something seems too good to be true, it probably is” in mind. An app that promises to let you stream paid content for free or claims to pay out big rewards for using it is likely a scam and these apps need to be avoided at all costs.
For your own security, it's also worth sticking to more popular apps from established companies rather than downloading an app from a developer without a proven track record.
More from Tom's Guide
Anthony Spadafora is the managing editor for security and home office furniture at Tom’s Guide where he covers everything from data breaches to password managers and the best way to cover your whole home or business with Wi-Fi. He also reviews standing desks, office chairs and other home office accessories with a penchant for building desk setups. Before joining the team, Anthony wrote for ITProPortal while living in Korea and later for TechRadar Pro after moving back to the US. Based in Houston, Texas, when he’s not writing Anthony can be found tinkering with PCs and game consoles, managing cables and upgrading his smart home.
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TracyBueller Small critique: While I know nefarious and low effort apps love to steal, appropriate, and downright mimicks or otherwise copy icons and icon elements of legitimate apps (and even desktop pc program icons that do not have legit mobile apps), it would be helpful to include the app store icons of the problematic apps, as well as the developer name they were uploaded under. Someone (who isnt discerning about their downloads and installs) might not remember downloading the 'funny photo bank draining camera' app, but they will remember that one icon they always see in their app drawer when looking for their camera app.Reply
It would also be helpful to mention and link to an article about using a computer and ADB to uninstall apps and bloatware. Although do remember to warn readers while removing crapware, bloat, brand installed junk, etc, deleting the wrong system file can lead to a loss of features requiring a factory reset. However considering how much garbage some providers and manufacturers put on devices (LOOKING AT YOU SAMSUNG! AND LG! Like, we already need to log into google, what the hell is the point of copying the very services Google already forces upon us.....except worse? In both usability and privacy concerns...And why does facebook need an auto reinstalling package manager on MY device? Ill decide if I want facebook on my phone, when facebook pays for my phone then it can have a say about whats on it!), its usually worth looking into removing them. Especially for the more technically minded and privacy conscience audience.
The only reason so many companies, manufacturers,and app developers believe they can get away with these behaviors that 10 years ago, on a PC, we would have likened them viruses, trojans, worms, etc is how complacent so many people are and allowing these background processes to continue running on their devices. Say "No!" people. Samsung removed the IR blaster in their devices because no one used their piece of cow dung Peel app, but many did you use other third party apps (irPlus FTW!). So according to their metrics since no one used their app, no one was using the IR blaster, no point in having it in the devices. Now of course this is a failing in how they collect and interpret their metrics, and to be honest monitoring the usage of the IR blaster versus simply whenever their program was launched would have had bad optics in the realm of privacy but the lesson is clear....
Screw up their metrics, don't allow these programs to run, or even exist on your device, in the background and they will get the message.
.... Or they'll double down on forcing you to use them anyways. But at least they won't be able to do it surreptitiously, it'll force their hand in doing it blatantly and in the open.