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An obvious scam Android app has been installed over 1 million times in under a month

Published Jun 17th, 2014 3:39PM EDT
Android Malware Subway Train Game

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People, you really ought to read an app’s permissions before you download it. Reddit’s Android community has flagged an obvious scam app called Subway Train Game in the Google Play store that has been installed more than 1 million times in less than a month. 

What makes this game such an obvious scam? Start with the excessive permissions it requests — a game that purportedly is centered on running through subway tunnels for some reason needs to have access to your device’s microphone to record audio, to your device’s camera to snap pictures and to know your precise location through GPS.

What’s more, as Redditor Androidclean points out, the game violates Google’s in-app ad policy by having banner ads on both the top and bottom of the game and that clicking on the supposed link to the developers’ homepage redirects you to Facebook’s main page.

You can flag this app as inappropriate by finding it on an Android device through the Google Play store and clicking the “Flag as inappropriate” at the bottom of the game’s page. You can only do this through an Android device, however, and you won’t be able to flag it if you’re trying to do so from your PC.

Brad Reed
Brad Reed Staff Writer

Brad Reed has written about technology for over eight years at BGR.com and Network World. Prior to that, he wrote freelance stories for political publications such as AlterNet and the American Prospect. He has a Master's Degree in Business and Economics Journalism from Boston University.