A fake WhatsApp app showed up in sponsored Google Play results and was thought to be installed over 500,000 times. Here is how to check your phone.
A fake copy of WhatsApp appeared on the Google Play Store, the main app shop for Android phones, and is thought to have been installed more than 500,000 times. It showed up in the sponsored results when people searched for the chat app. Google has since removed it.
The fake looked real. It used a matching logo and a full description copied from the actual app. The only clear clue was the developer name. It read Agment Assets sallu, not WhatsApp LLC. A Reddit user, u/2ne1cheese, posted the fake next to the real app, and the two were almost impossible to tell apart.
A week earlier, a fake Google Chrome app was also found on the Play Store. It was downloaded over 100,000 times and has also been deleted.
Anyone on Android who searched for WhatsApp in the Play Store may have tapped the wrong result. If your WhatsApp lists WhatsApp LLC as its developer, you have the genuine app. Anyone who installed the fake should remove it. Google itself recommends that.
The steps in the alert box above show how to check and what to delete.
It is unclear what the fake app did on phones where it was installed. Nobody has said whether it carried malware or tried to steal personal information. Waiting to find out is not wise, since Google was worried enough to pull it.
For future installs, be wary of developers you have never heard of, poor reviews and odd download numbers. If something looks off, skip it.
Check that your WhatsApp app was made by WhatsApp LLC, and delete it if the developer is Agment Assets sallu or anyone else.
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