What are fake squid games apps for?
This is a tricky question, as there are over 200 games under the name Squid Game on the Google Play Store alone, none of which are official. The harmless are just poorly designed games that attempt to replicate the series and generate ad revenue from distraught gamers. However, some of the more insidious apps are believed to contain malware.
Over 200 #SquidGame related applications are available on Google Play
Seems like a great opportunity to make money on in-app ads of one of the most popular TV shows without an official game.
The most downloaded of them reached 1 million installs in 10 days. Its gameplay is not so well managed pic.twitter.com/gCOYXXaVHY– Lukas Stefanko (@LukasStefanko) October 19, 2021
At least one Squid game app has been identified as containing malicious Android software known as Joker. Disguised as Squid game wallpaper, users who downloaded this app have unknowingly installed malware on their Android device, potentially becoming prone to ad fraud or signing up for targeted SMS scam campaigns.
This is far from the first time that something like this has appeared on the Google Play Store. The malware distributors have acted under the guise of other very popular media, including Fortnite, Pokemon, and even COVID-19 applications.
