News of a dangerous new android application, that takes the photos of unsuspecting phone owners, and prevents their access to the phone by locking it and demanding ransom before unlocking the device, has been making the rounds.
According to a security firm in the United States, Zscaler ,the application named "Adult Player" claims to offer quality pornographic photos but once installed, it snaps a photograph of the user, through the front facing camera.
After this is done, the application proceeds to lock the user's device, as it displays the bad photo taken by the front camera on the ransomware screen, next to a message demanding a ransom of $500 in order for the application to unlock the phone, and allow the user access his phone again.
The user is directed to pay the said ransom through a PayPal account, until this is done, the ransom message will be displayed on the screen, not going away even if the phone is rebooted.
The dubious application is not available on Google Play, but installed directly from a website.
According to Police reports, ransomware applications like this gross a whopping $100 million per year.
See screenshot below:
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