Hundreds of predatory loan apps targeting people across Africa, Asia and Latin America have been available on Google Play and Apple App Store, garnering over 15 million collective downloads.
Discovered by researchers at the cybersecurity firm Lookout, the apps include 35 that were in the top 100 among finance platforms in their regional app stores. They have since been reported to Google and Apple and removed.
“Based on our analysis, there are likely dozens of independent operators involved, as we only found shared code bases between small batches of apps. With that said, all the apps have a very similar business model, which is to trick victims into unfair loan terms and threaten them to pay,” the researchers said.
“All the predatory loan apps were found in developing countries. Specifically, we identified apps targeting users in Colombia, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Mexico, Nigeria, the Philippines, Thailand, and Uganda. While we don’t have evidence of where the scam operators reside, it’s clear that these regions were identified to be lucrative.”
Lookout senior security intelligence researcher Ruohan Xiong said one of the main fears with predatory loan apps is the personal information they steal from unsuspecting users.
According to Xiong, app permissions could easily be abused if users are not careful. The platforms were another example of why people need to think before they entrust apps with sensitive personal information.
All of the apps offer…
