More Than One Million People Have So Far Downloaded This Fake WhatsApp Android App

Theresa Casimir, November 6, 2017

There is a fake WhatsApp android app out there

Okay, here is the drill in case you have no idea there is a fake and malicious version of Facebook owned WhatsApp messenger in Google play store as “Update WhatsApp messenger” with a developer name as WhatsApp Inc.

When checked in the Play Store , it has over 5000 downloads it on the Play Store, and also found out by the IANS that there is another version of the Facebook owned messenger under the same name which has about one million downloads while the original one has a billion downloads.

The shady WhatsApp version was first seen by the popular WhatsApp change tracking website WABetainfo via Twitter user @MujtabaMHaq.

WABetainfo social media account tweeted to its Twitter account 30,000 followers that “DON’T DOWNLOAD THIS APP! IT’S FAKE!, also added by the page “check only the official channels to download the original what’sApp Business in future” WhatsApp Business is yet to launch their standalone service.

Fake WhatsApp Update on #GooglePlay . Under the "same" dev name. Incl. a Unicode whitespace. One Million downloadshttps://t.co/qjqxd6n6HP pic.twitter.com/dmvTksqpuP
— Nikolaos Chrysaidos (@virqdroid) November 3, 2017

Back in May, there was a fake WhatsApp URL circulating that if clicked on would install an adware on your computer. It is not unusual to see such things circulating the internet and the danger could be severe in that it can actually install malware on your devices or even a ransomware that can lock you out of your computer or mobile device. Before you click on such links, try to check if there’s been an official announcement by the tech company and sometimes it’s easy to identify them. First by the name, there’s no such app like “Update WhatsApp” because if WhatsApp needs an update, it won’t come as a standalone app. The other thing is that, WhatsApp won’t have one million downloads and just about anyone should know that WhatsApp would have well over that number. In any case, be careful.

Earlier on Friday, the Facebook owned platform was down for users worldwide including Nigeria for an hour with people complaining of issues while accessing their service on Twitter pointing out issues and also highlight problems with the messaging app but the company later released a statement saying the problems has been fixed and also apologized for any inconvenience they might has caused their users.