The application paid for the same name as the malicious software

The problem of the same application name in the Google Play store may be indicated by a malicious application Barcode Scanner, in which malware was discovered last week. According to the portal AndroidPolice users mistaken it for another application with the same name and gave it a number of negative reviews.

Malicious software was also included in the Google Play Pass subscription

Adware was unveiled last week by a security company Malwarebytes v popular application Barcode Scanner, which had over 10 million downloads. It was not a fake application that would only look like the original, but an official application from the developer Lavabird ltd. In addition, it was part of the Google Play Pass subscription, which offers access to selected applications for a monthly fee.

For a long time, the application was problem-free, but this was changed by its December update. Instead of the classic advertising SDK, which displays ads in the application in the standard way, the developer inserted malicious code into it, which displays them similarly to adware. Such malicious applications also display ads outside the application’s interface and automatically open malicious websites with various annoying alerts.

After being notified of the malicious code by a security company, the developer withdrew it from the store. It is no longer included in the Google Play Pass subscription. Users who installed it were prompted to uninstall it immediately. However, because they felt damaged, they decided to give the removed application a negative rating.

An innocent application with the same name received negative reviews

However, because the malware is no longer in the Google Play store, users turned their anger at the wrong application with the same name. Application Barcode Scanner from the developer ZXing Team earned a 1-star rating in a few hours with very unflattering comments.

The reviewers didn’t even notice that the app was open source and has not been updated since 2019. In addition, it is a barcode scanner that was actually developed by Google staff. It is based on Google’s library of QR code decoders from Google ZXin, hence the developer name ZXing Team.

Portal AndroidPolice to date, he examined the application for sure, but did not find that it was harmful. Later, 5-star comments appeared on the application, which in turn praised and defended it. Google is now expected to clean up all of these comments so that only the original ratings remain on Google Play.