Users of Android phones and tablets are put on high alert because of a very popular app that can quietly drain their bank accounts.
The owners of Android smartphones are used to warnings from security researchers. Despite the great efforts made by Google, malware, ransomware and software tools continue to sneak into its store, and find its way to the public due to the great popularity of Android.
The latest of these, a popular app called "SnapTube", is known as an easy way to download videos from "YouTube" and "Facebook", and it has been downloaded more than 40 million times.
A new report from the company, UpStreamSystems, which specializes in smart phone security, revealed that users who have downloaded the SnapTube app on their smartphones, may find themselves paying a heavy price, as this application quietly registers users to obtain excellent services from them. Without their knowledge.
This practice is known as fleeceware, that is, blackmailing application developers for smartphone and tablet users and making profits by charging subscription fees for those applications in its beta phase or simply by subscribing to it.
And Google allows third-party developers to charge the credit or debit card saved in Google's account, to enable some of the most popular services, such as "Netflix", to work smoothly with users of Android smartphones and tablets.
Android application users can usually cancel the trial period manually, to avoid charging fees for the full subscription.
However, the vast majority of users simply uninstall the app, when they are not interested or want to avoid moving to the non-free subscription.
Some may forget that they have even subscribed to a trial subscription within the applications, when they remove them from their Android smartphones or tablets.
And if you download "SnapTube" to download a video on "YouTube" or "Facebook" quickly and then delete the application and forget it, then you may have inadvertently registered for a distinguished service from the developer.
Huge gains
It is estimated that SnapTube has already earned through its fraudulent activities nearly $ 100 million from users.
When highlighting this practice, Mobiuspace - the developer of SnapTube and a number of other successful applications - claimed that she was not aware of the problem, and that any unwanted fees to customers are due to a third-party application, SnapTube is communicating with it, which apparently has been rejected by Google, as it has now removed SnapTube from the Google Play store.
And of course, removing SnapTube from Google Store means that new Android smartphones and tablets will not be able to download the application.
If you previously downloaded SnapTube and noticed some unusual fees emerging from your current account, you should run the Play Store app on your phone and click on the menu button in the upper-left corner of the screen.
After that go to subscriptions and search for anything associated with SnapTube and select it, then click on Cancel subscription and follow the instructions on the screen to get rid of fees that can be withdrawn from your account without your knowledge.