This app that promises you money for watching videos is a scam
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But one trendy way to easily earn money isn’t what it claims to be. An app that promises you’ll get paid just for watching videos is actually hiding malware.
Read on to see how this malicious app works and what you can do about it.
Here’s the backstory
Apps go through a vetting process before being available on the official app stores. Apple has a closed ecosystem with stringent security measures, but Google’s Android operating system is less secure.
This allows scammers to inject malware or fraudulent apps into the app store more easily. One such app is TubeBox, discovered by anti-malware company Dr. Web. The app promises you a financial reward for watching videos and ads, but there are many issues when it comes to cashing out.
Here’s how the app is supposed to work. You watch videos and ads and rewards are deposited into your internal account. Once you hit a minimum number of rewards, you can convert them into real money and have it transferred into your bank account. But that’s when the problems arise.
According to a Dr. Web blog post, you would never actually receive your payment even if you reached the minimum number of views. The app would show issues with the payment system, claiming you would get paid as soon as the problems were cleared up.
In reality, the people behind the app are just stringing you along, hoping you’ll continue to watch ads and videos. That’s because they receive money for views, not you. It’s an elaborate scheme to trick people into doing the work for them, so they don’t have to.
With over a million downloads, the app uses the Program.FakeMoney malware that promises cash for watching videos. In addition to generating income for scammers, it can include code to steal your personal information.
If you have the TubeBox app on any of your devices, delete it ASAP. Don’t forget to tell family and friends to do the same. Unfortunately, this isn’t the only malicious app on the Google Play Store. Keep reading for details on a few more you should avoid.
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