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If you entered 2023 with fitness-focused New Year’s resolutions, you might be among the millions who downloaded active apps to stay motivated.
But cyber experts are now warning that dangerous developers could be abusing your health kick.
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Three apps that claim to track and encourage healthy habits are actually serving ads and lies.
The pedometer and health-tracking app has been flagged by antivirus company Doctor Web for claims that users can earn virtual rewards that can be redeemed for real money or online gift cards.
However, the developer removed the application’s ability to withdraw payments in a later update. This effectively means that the balance will be worthless for users trying to make money using the app.
Besides being told they can earn these “virtual rewards” by performing fitness tasks, users are constantly served ads and encouraged to increase their reward balance by actually watching them.
This rogue update was detected in 3 apps, including Lucky Habit: health tracker. It features the same command and control (C&C) server as his two fitness apps, WalkingJoy and Lucky Step-Walking Tracker.
“This could indicate that they are all connected, and that at any time users of ‘Lucky Habit: health tracker’ and ‘WalkingJoy’ may also lose all hope of receiving payments. ,” reports Dr Web.
All three applications were previously available for download on the Google Play Store with an average star rating of over 3.9 stars. However, at the time of writing, only Lucky Habit: health tracker was available for download.
The cumulative number of app downloads exceeded 20 million.
App users are told they need to collect 2 million “coins” to withdraw about $35 worth of cash, but once they reach the required balance, they will be shown 30 more ads to make the withdrawal. You will be asked to look.
However, users who have been scammed report that withdrawals are not possible after that.
Some reported that the videos provided were inappropriate, while others claimed they had to play for around six months to get the required withdrawal balance.
Android user Monica Marks reported, “I was told I had to watch a dirty video. I’ve been playing this for so long that I was really dependent on the $35 I was supposed to cash out.” Did.
Android user Clint Edwards, who downloaded Lucky Habit, said he tested the withdrawal feature and was initially able to cash out $1. Then, after hours of building a credit balance, they were no longer able to withdraw.
Edwards said, “I’ve played hours and hours and I’m not credited.
“I’m starting to feel (it’s) a scam.”
Another Android user who downloaded the app, Patrick Ortiz, said: After reaching 2 million, the app said I had to watch the ad 30 times.I played it for over 6 months. You have finished the game and cannot withdraw. It’s a scam! What a waste of time. ”
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