Owners of Samsung phones often have to wait until they receive the latest Android version. An app promised users a “premium access” – and lured millions of users into an Abofalle.
When Google releases a new Android version, many smartphone users are starting to wait. While Google’s own pixel series immediately receive functional updates , other manufacturers spend a considerable amount of time on delivery. Even on the top models from Samsung , the new Android version usually comes with a significant delay.
An app for Samsung smartphone promised to remedy. According to the developer to owners of a Samsung phones thanks to the app “Updates for Samsung – Android Updates Version” faster to get the function updates. Security experts have now revealed: This is a rip-off scam. And that was apparently extremely effective: More than ten million users have downloaded the app.
Users receive an invoice
Instead of the promised premium access to updates, many users received an invoice: whoever installed the app was offered an annual subscription – for a special price of $ 35 instead of $ 240 a year.
The fraud should have been noticed in the Play Store actually. Because the amounts were not billed as prescribed via the Google Account, but via an external payment system. How much the fraudsters could capture is unclear. Meanwhile, the app has been removed from the Play Store.
Users should make sure that they receive updates only through the official channels – that is: About the system settings and not the App Store. On current Samsung smartphones, Android updates are usually offered automatically as soon as they are released by the manufacturer. They are free. Find out how to manually check for updates to your operating system and start the installation here .
The next Android version Android 10 Q is currently in the test phase and is expected to be released later this year.