Would you spend four bucks to change the icon on the left to the icon on the right? Thousands of Android owners already have:
Virus Shield claims it is an antivirus that “protects you and your personal information from harmful viruses, malware, and spyware” and “Improve the speed of your phone,” and it does this all with one click. It also claims to have a minimal impact on battery, run seamlessly in the background, and if that wasn’t enough, it also acts as ad-block software that will stop those “pesky advertisements.” This app costs $3.99, has been on the Play Store for just under two weeks and has already had 10,000 downloads with a 4.5 star review from 1,700 people. 2,607 people hit the Google “recommend” button. This means that the app must be doing something right… right?
Unfortunately for the buyers, Android Police has discovered that all the app does is change a red “X” graphic to a red “check” graphic. Literally. The 859kb app doesn’t protect, secure, or scan anything. More work went into the Settings menu than the actual “security” portion of the app, and it appears that thousands of users have been scammed out of their money.
The fact that you might have a phone requiring virus protection says more than the actual scam does.
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