Security News > 2022 > December > Almost 300 predatory loan apps found in Google and Apple stores

Almost 300 apps, downloaded by around 15 million users, have been pulled from the Google Play and Apple App stores over claims they promised quick loans at reasonable rates but then used extortion and other predatory schemes against borrowers.

Lookout contacted Google and Apple about the apps and said Wednesday that none of them were still available for download. "What's been identified is a tiny drop in the bucket overall," Chris Clements, vice president of solutions architecture for Cerberus Sentinel, told The Register, adding that "Anything over zero shouldn't be acceptable."

There were almost 4 million apps in the Apple Store and more than 2.6 million in Google Play, according to Statista -.

In the first half of the year, Google reportedly removed 2,000 loan apps from its Play Store in India.

"The focus on developing countries may also explain why we found more loan scam apps on Android than on iOS," the researchers wrote.

While a loan app scam can be time- and resource-consuming, "The payoff is more significant with extorting the victims," James McQuiggan, security awareness advocate at KnowBe4, told The Register.

News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2022/12/01/apple_google_predatory_loans/