Fake Android apps misguide users by posing as popular game cheats and have been installed more than 200,000 times in a single month, according to IT security firm ESET.
Identified as Android/AdDisplay.Cheastom, the apps can evade detection by Google Play store security technology, Google Bouncer.
Security researchers from the firm have pointed out that once installed, the apps then aggressively display adverts every 30-40 minutes thus slowing down the normal use of Android devices.
The apps have been found to appear as popular game cheats including Cheats for Pou, Guide for SubWay and Cheats for SubWay, ESET said.
The fake apps also contain self-preservation code which makes their removal complicated.
ESET malware researcher Lukáš Štefanko said: "These aggressive ad-displaying apps attempt to hide their functionality from security researchers by deploying techniques, which succeeded in being downloaded over 200,000 times in a single month.
"The anti-Bouncer technique used by these apps obtains the IP address of a device and accesses its WHOIS record.
"If the information returned contains the string ‘Google’, then the app assumes it is running in Bouncer.
"Should the app detect an emulator or Google Bouncer environment, the ads are not displayed. Instead, the app will simply provide game cheats, as expected."
Following ESET’s notification, Google has removed these unwanted applications from the Google store.
Štefanko said: "Although it’s good that Google removed the apps from the Android Google Play store after we informed them of the issue, it is clear that more attempts will be made to bypass Bouncer and spread apps containing undesirable code."
