New finding by hackers and cybercriminals to steal Bitcoin, the Coronavirus / Covid-19 crisis, by spreading fake epidemic tracking apps.
Coronavirus scams that concern false masks of protection against the virus, phony remedies for the coronavirus and of course Bitcoin scams linked to Covid19.
You have surely seen them on websites, applications to download to follow the spread of the Covid19 virus in France or in the world.
Panic-stricken, many people want to know how many people are infected with the coronavirus and if there are any near their homes.
Scammers and cybercriminals have jumped at the chance to create fake Coronavirus or Covid 19 tracking apps, apps to download on iOS or Android that will give access to your computer or smartphone, reveals security company Domaintools.
There is a site that comes up frequently, coronavirusapp.site, which offers to download a covid19 tracker application.
This site offers to download an application on Android which is in fact only malware or ransomware "CovidLock" which will ultimately block access to your smartphone and ask for a ransom of 100 dollars in Bitcoin to unlock it.
The site is very well done, it claims to have been certified by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC).
Hackers claim that the app has received more than 6 million favorable reviews and is rated 4.4 stars.
The description of the application especially indicates that it can send you an instant notification when a COVID-19 patient is near you, an argument that makes a splash and leads victims to download the fake application.
By downloading the application, it is asked as often to give access to certain functionalities of the smartphone to the application including access to the function which blocks by password the unlocking of the screen of the phone.
The person therefore finds himself unable to access his smartphone if he does not pay the ransom demanded in Bitcoin by hackers.
You should therefore avoid downloading applications outside of the official Google Android app so as not to end up with viruses or malware that take victims' smartphones hostage.
With ultimately, victims who pay ransoms in Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies in order to get out of this ordeal created by these scammers.