Fake “GTA 10th Anniversary Edition” Installs SMS Trojan

Rockstar Games celebrated the 10-year anniversary of Grand Theft Auto back in October 2011. The celebration has passed, but cybercriminals still rely on it to promote their malicious Android applications.

GFI researchers have come across an Android app called “GTA 10th Anniversary Edition” which is designed to inflate the bills of unsuspecting users by installing a Trojan that sends SMSs to premium rate numbers.

Once the malware, identified as Trojan.AndroidOS.OpFake.a, finds itself on a device, it will start sending short text messages.

However, Android users can look for a simple clue that gives away the true purpose and identity of the shady app. During installation, in the permissions stage, “GTA 10th Anniversary Edition” requests the rights to send SMSs to services that cost money.

A legitimate GTA game would never require this permission, so this should be a clear indication of its malicious purpose.

This particular scheme, part of OpFake, has been found to target Russian speakers, but it can easily be adapted to target users from other parts of the world.