According to security researchers done by the ESET, dozens of android app on Google's playstore has been serving ads to its users as a money-making scheme, In the report, ESET shortlisted 42 apps with over 8million downloads containing adware and have been in existence since July 2018.
The suspected apps are like any other normal app but once downloaded they'll start displaying full-screen ads on the user's mobile, and it was discovered that most of these apps will ofter self-delete their icons and either mimic Facebook or Google in order to avoid suspicion and staying in the user's mobile for a very long time.
In addition, the app will be sending back the user's data to its creator pertaining to the device security level which leads to installing more adware without the user's consent.
The adware functionality is the same in all the apps we analyzed
says Lukas Stefanko, one of the ESET security researchers
Some of the apps on the list include; Video Downloader Master (5million downloads) Ringtone Maker Pro, SaveInsta and Tank Classic (500k downloads each)
All of the suspected apps have been removed from Google playstore while researchers warned that it might still be available on other third-party stores, also the researchers say the Vietnamese college student might be behind the adware
