Scams are among us since the beginning of technology but there are certain ones that really surprise us. Fleeceware is a new way for hackers and scammers to take advantage of the users’ lack of knowledge. It’s a soft digital scam that subscribes the user to certain platforms without him or her noticing it.
Fleeceware takes advantage of those users that download apps and don’t read the user conditions. Then, it can subscribe you to certain services and start charging you for them. Learn about this type of software and how to avoid any scam.
Fleeceware concept
Back in 2019 the term fleeceware appeared for the first time, quoted by Sophos. It’s a cyber security company that discovered this type of software allocated on the Google Play Store, Android’s official app store.
Fleeceware comes from the combination of the terms fleece and ware. The idea of these apps is to make you spend money without you noticing it. First they offer you a free service but suddenly they start to charge you for it.
Sophos explains that these apps exist in a grey area between malware and technically undesired software. At the end of the day, fleeceware charges you for something that you can get for free with several other apps. Usually, the apps in this category offer you certain features for free and some others by paying. You also get a free trial period of time but then you have to pay and the price is hidden maliciously among the contract user terms. Most of the time, the users forget to unsubscribe and they start paying for the app at least for a couple of months.
Normally, the user tries the app and uninstalls it after the trial period. But if you don’t remember to unsubscribe, you may end up paying for a service you are not using at all. The app usually hides or makes the conditions pretty obscure as a way to charge you for a service you won’t use at least for some days.
Simple apps you can find for free
Fleeceware tend to be pretty simple. You will find QR reading apps, calculators, flashlights or photo edition tools. A lot of phones already include integrated native apps as well as really free apps available. The user downloads fleeceware because he or she doesn’t know what the mobile phone includes by default.
Sophos indicates that they have already marked 15 apps in Google Play Store in the fleeceware category and they reported them to Google. 14 were removed but new ones appear every month. Luckily, Google eliminates this type of software regularly. Also, other security companies such as Avast have started to detect fleeceware apps.
At the end of the day, the best solution to avoid any malware or fleeceware is checking out user conditions. Read the terms before allowing any app to install on your system. If you voluntarily download and install an app, they are entitled to charge you if it was written on the user terms. Read them.
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