Research: 1.2 percent Google Play apps are fraudulent copies

According to research, 1.2 percent of Android apps in the Play Store can be labeled as copies. The counterfeit apps are said to be placed in the download store in order to collect user data and monetize ads.

The research was conducted by security firm Bitdefender, which published the results on a blog released. Out of the 420,000 applications examined in the Play Store, 5077 are said to be copies of other apps. Bitdefender defines an app as a copy if more than 90 percent of the code matches. The number of copies found is about 1.2 percent of the total. One of the copied apps is the popular game Riptide GP2, of which four copies surfaced in a week.

The copied apps were published by a total of 2140 developers. According to Bitdefender, they upload the fake apps to trick users into collecting user data through installations. Money is also made by showing advertisements. In addition, some rogue apps would make expensive phone calls and send text messages after installation. This is possible because they modify the permissions of the original app, changes that many users will not notice.

Normally, counterfeit applications or apps that exhibit unwanted behavior are removed from the Play Store by Google. The short time that the copies are in the download store would nevertheless be sufficient for the uploaders. Hackers previously managed to modify modified applications from the British Sky and upload them to the Play Store.