Calling the Customer Support Might Get You Infected With Malware

Malware is the cunning type of software that could enter a device connected to the internet in numerous ways. You can be the victim of a phishing attack; you can click on an infected file sent via email, you could be prompted by a fake website asking you for your credentials, and more.

You should never underestimate the ingeniousness of hackers. Regardless of how powerful our antivirus program is, those cyber thieves are also improving their evil schemes as well. That’s why updates are crucially important for any antivirus out there.

Watch out for the ‘Fakecalls’ Android trojan

BleepingComputer.com warns us about the existence of the trojan known as ‘Fakecalls,’ which can fool Android users into believing that they’re all safe and sound as they’re calling their customer support from the bank. In reality, the trojan is able to take over the call and expose the victim to malware attacks. Users from South Korea have become the victims of the trojan, and they were also customers of KakaoBank and Kookmin Bank. Perhaps users should already become suspicious when the trojan asks for permissions regarding the microphone, camera, contact list, geolocation, and call handling.

Fakecalls is so cunning that it will display the marks of the entity it aims to copy. It is even capable of showing the customer support number. The ultimate goal of the hackers is obviously to get their dirty hands on the funds of the victim. They can do so by mimicking the customer support representatives of the bank itself.

Kaspersky explains more:

These permissions allow the malware not only to spy on the user but to control their device to a certain extent, giving the Trojan the ability to drop incoming calls and delete them from the history. This allows the scammers, among other things, to block and hide real calls from banks.

Hopefully, the Fakecalls trojan won’t cause any more trouble in the near future!