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Cybersecurity company Avast has identified several applications available on Google Play Store that have been targetting fans of Minecraft, a popular video game. These apps have been classified as “fleeceware” as they lure users by offering new skins, colourful wallpapers or modifications for the game. However, they charge the users wrongfully.
At first, these “fleeceware” apps which are relatively new offer a trial period as short as just three days. The idea behind the app is based on the possibility that the user forgets about the app and after the short trial expires the apps can charge them with the real subscription cost without alerting them. On the Play Store, these apps have either a one-star rating or a five-star. There is barely anything in between.
The five apps named Skins, Mods, Maps for Minecraft PE, Skins for Roblox, MasterCraft for Minecraft, Master for Minecraft, Boys and Girls Skins charge 30 dollars a week and have over one million downloads so far. Maps Skins and Mods for Minecraft has over 1,00,000 downloads and charges 30 dollars a week whereas with a similar number of downloads Live Wallpapers HD & 3D Background 90 dollars a year.
If you have these apps installed on your Android smartphone, just uninstalling them won’t do the trick. You will need to cancel the subscription also by going into the ‘Subscriptions’ in the Play Store’s menu.
Note: All seven apps mentioned above were available for download on the Google Play Store at the time of publishing.
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