Porn app takes photos of users and charges $500 to unlock device

The sites porn usually have a lot of traps. And these traps multiply when the smartphone is the gateway to viewing content. A new malware discovered for Android takes pictures of users and charges $500 to unlock the phone.

a link that pretend to be a video actually downloads an app called Adult Player. If the user installs the app and grants admin access, it checks if the device has a front-facing camera and capture a photo. Afterwards, a kidnapping message with the photo is displayed, pretending to be from the FBI and charging a “fine” of US$ 500.

Discovered by security company Zscaler, it requires intermediate knowledge to remove. It's no use just restarting the device; the way is to access the safety mode, holding the on/off button and then pressing on the “Off” button that appears on the interface of the Android, until the option “Restart in Safe Mode”.

Then the user needs to go to Configure > Security > Device Administrators and disable the ransomware. Only then is it possible to uninstall it.

The advice is always to avoid installing apps from unknown sources. Rarely do apps Play Store have malicious code. AND Zscaler made it available here the complete research documentation on this malware.