Google has decided to remove a series of more than 100 apps that were highly appreciated and had tens of millions of downloads on Google Play Store.
Google shut down over 100 apps on Play Store
This decision came after it was demonstrated that these applications managed to violate users’ safety and security online, as well as many other store policies. The apps were developed by more than 27 different app developers, as reported by CyberNews.
In addition to that, the theory that the same manufacturer with more pseudonyms might have uploaded the apps is also taken into consideration.
Most of the apps provide simple, user-friendly services, such as scanning files and making photo collages. However, the simplicity they offer shows that behind these types of apps, the developer could have hidden violations regarding user’s privacy since the customers download these apps fast without reading the terms and conditions.
Publishing an app on the Android store is not such a hard job to do. The developers used a false first name and surname, featuring many Western-style names.
What is even more intriguing is that all of these apps are using the same Privacy Policy, but merely changing the name of the developer. In addition to this, all of them present similar URLs for Internet pages, and if you click them, you will notice than none has been completely set up yet.
The decision from the Google Play Store
The researchers’ team is still trying to determine the core of this operation. Until now, all the clues are pointing towards Asia, since most of the postcodes from the developer pages are from Vietnam.
While analyzing other pages, the researchers have discovered as well a series of Chinese postcodes.
The apps are reported to generate about $10.000 per month, using an enormous amount of ads and interstitials each time the user interacts with them. Consequently, the primary objective of this operation was to generate income from advertisers and devs.
At the moment, the Google Play Store researchers are trying to determine any other motive behind this operation.
