ESET researchers uncovered fraudulent apps on Google Play that claim to provide the call history “for any number” and had been downloaded more than seven million times before being taken down
There’s an app for everything nowadays… right? Well, looking up call records for a phone number of choice is not one of those things, as potentially millions of Android users found out after paying for app subscriptions promising just that.
The offending apps, which we named CallPhantom based on their false claims, purport to provide access to call histories, SMS records, and even WhatsApp call logs for any phone number. To unlock this supposed feature, users are asked to pay – but all they get in return is randomly generated data.
Our investigation identified 28 such fraudulent apps available on the Google Play store, cumulatively downloaded more than 7.3 million times. As an App Defense Alliance partner, we reported our findings to Google, which removed all of the apps identified in this report from Google Play.
Key points of this blogpost:
- A new Android scam, CallPhantom, falsely claims to provide access to call logs, SMS records, and WhatsApp call history for any phone number in exchange for payment.
- We identified and reported 28 CallPhantom apps on Google Play, cumulatively downloaded more than 7.3 million times.
- Some CallPhantom apps sidestep Google Play’s official billing system, complicating victims’ refund efforts.
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