Android app “Adult Player” has been busted offering porn and secretly taking photos of users, before threatening to release the photos if the user didn’t hand over US$500 (AUD$700).
The Adult Player app, which isn’t available on the official Google Play store, claimed to have free porn but once users opened the app they would see a picture of themselves and a message demanding they hand over the cash.
The message was from a fake FBI profile that include a log of the user’s IP address and a ‘case number’. The app’s software then locked the phone “for security reasons” and demanded the money be transferred via PayPal.
US security firm Zscaler, which uncovered the app, said other apps using similar methods have been discovered. Earlier this year a similar app offering free porn called Porn Droid used similar tactics to extort unsuspecting users.
