14 DAY TRIAL // Social media websites are flooded with a post that claims KiK is a hacking scheme launched by Japanese cybercriminals designed to steal sensitive information from mobile phones.
“KiK is a hacking scheme made by professional Japanese hackers, yes they will hack your phone, it starts off by your phone going slowly then eventually shuts your phone down! So delete it as soon as! Which has happened to laods of other phones! Set this as your status and send it to you KiK contacts!” reads the confusing message.
In reality, KiK is a legitimate multi-platform messaging application designed for smartphones that hasn’t got anything to do with Japanese hackers.
Released in October 2010, the app has been a great success, millions of users relying on it to share content and messages.
Hoax Slayer informs of another variant that claims even Sky News wrote a story on the allegedly malicious app, but there is no such article.
Before publishing the article, I’ve contacted KiK representatives to find out about their opinion on the rumors and they released an official response regarding the accusations.
Here is what they have to say on the matter:
Here at Kik we find these rumors pretty surprising for a few reasons. Kik is not a new or unknown app; we first launched back in October of 2010 and we’ve since grown to millions of users on iPhone, Android, BlackBerry, Windows Phone and Symbian, becoming one of the most popular mobile apps.
We also work very closely with the major operating systems that have vetted and approved and our apps for users. In fact, Kik has been on the Android and iOS platforms for over a year now, and has earned 4-star user ratings.
The bottom line is that KiK is not a malicious application created by Japanese hackers and I advise users to document a story before spamming their Facebook friends with ludicrous alerts.