Fake VPN and Spam Blocker Apps Tied to VexTrio Used in Ad Fraud Subscription Scams
Under the pretense of seeming to be helpful apps, a number of harmful apps have been developed by the malicious ad tech provider VexTrio Viper and released on Google's and Apple's official app stores.
According to a thorough analysis provided to The Hacker News by DNS threat intelligence business Infoblox, these apps pose as spam blockers, VPNs, device "monitoring" apps, RAM cleaners, and dating services.
According to the corporation, they released apps under a number of developer names, including Hugmi, Klover Group, HolaCode, LocoMind, and AlphaScale Media. Together, these have been downloaded millions of times and are accessible through the Google Play and Apple stores.
Once loaded, these fraudulent apps trick users into committing to difficult-to-cancel subscriptions, bombard...