Mumbai: After India recently banned 59 popular Chinese apps including TikTok, CamScanner among others, the cyber scamsters are taking advantage of the popularity and unavailability of the app in the Indian cyberspace and promoting malware in the name of TikTok Pro. In the light of such malware being sent in the form of a link, either on messages or WhatsApp texts, Maharashtra Cyber Cell issued an advisory, cautioning the netizens.
A senior cyber official said, while the official TikTok app continues to remain blocked in India, cybercriminals are spreading a malware called TikTok Pro through SMS and WhatsApp texts. When a user receives this message, claiming that TikTok is now available in India in the form of TikTok Pro, they are advised to ignore it.
Explaining the modus operandi, police said, this message has a link to download the TikTok Pro APK file and after downloading, the icon appears as the original TikTok app and asks for permissions to access camera, image gallery, mic and others. But after you provide these permissions, the app doesn’t function but simply stays on your phone.
As this application is not available on Google Play, it will be downloaded and installed only through the APK file, which are usually used to easily steal user IDs of other popular social media accounts, in a bid to hack them and take advantage of cyber vulnerabilities.
