iPhone users envious of Android get duped by 'fake' security app

A computer security firm has issued a warning against a "fake" app that gives Apple's iPhone a pattern-unlock feature similar to phones running Google's Android OS.

 

Sophos said more than 1,000 people have fallen for the app, which hints at preventing phones from "butt-dialing" or from being accessed by thieves or busybodies.

But many iPhone users appeared to be attracted to the prospect of being like Android users, who swipe their screens to unlock their devices.  

"It's easy to see how the buyers were tricked. Even after developer Fabio Junior posted a disclaimer stating that the app 'does not provide any real lock mechanism,' the screenshots of patterns used to advertise the app are still labelled 'Lock Your Screen,' 'Pattern Code Security/Connect Dots to Unlock,' 'Choose Your Favorite Locking Mechanism,' 'Alpha-numberic [sic] Passcode' and 'Biometrics Security,'" it said.

 

Yet, it said that desire for an easy screen unlock "has earned the fake screen unlock developer over $1,000."

 

Sophos said the app was released on March 9 and as of April 21, the app had garnered 1,100 reviews on the App Store.

 

"Of those buyers, 1,042 gave the lowest possible rating of one star, while many commenters noted that they'd give the bogus app a zero star rating if that were possible," it said.

 

Sophos said the app merely provides "pretty screenshots" of security: 20 backgrounds that users can set as their wallpaper to give the appearance of lock-screen security.

 

"If there's any lesson to be learned, it's that app buyers should read the description before plunking down their $1.99 (the app's original price was 99 cents. It went up to $1.99 on April 19, when the disclaimer was added)," it said. — TJD, GMA News