Several suspicious applications have been published by one Dan Stokes

Jun 13, 2013 08:41 GMT  ·  By

Rovio’s Bad Piggies is highly popular among Android users. So, as expected, cybercrooks are trying to leverage its popularity for their own profit.

Experts from security firm F-Secure have come across a game called “Bad Pigs” on Google Play. Its description is highly similar to the one of the genuine Bad Piggies game and it has already been installed by over 10,000 Android users since May 25, 2013.

On the Android application portal AppBrain, the app, developed by one Dan Stokes, ranks first.

So how did experts determine that the app is fishy?

First of all, Mr. Stokes’ email address is [email protected]. In addition, the app adds ad icons on the desktop, pushes ads, accesses accounts, monitors browsing history, and shares the user's location with its creator.

Furthermore, it requests a large number of permissions, including to personal information, storage, development tool, and system tools.

The same developer has other apps as well, including a fake Fruit Chop Ninja and Paper Toss 2.

The malicious apps, detected by F-Secure as Android/FakeInst.CI, have been reported to Rovio and Google, and they’ve been removed from Google Play. However, Android users should be cautious since the apps can reemerge at any time.