GTA Vice City Android game installs malware

Android gamers, watch out: a supposed unofficial variant of the "Grand Theft Auto" (GTA) for Android may be a malware in disguise, especially if it asks you to install a Flash update.

 

Security vendor GFI Labs said the supposed Flash update is a variant of the Boxer malware, which sends SMS messages to premium numbers and drains the user's load.

 

"What we have here is Boxer, and anyone installing this will find they have premium rate SMS messages being sent out to look forward to," it said.

 

Also, GFI noted the only games Rockstar had released on the official Google Play site are versions of GTA 3 and the original Max Payne.

 

There is no version of Vice City currently available from the publishers, much less a version authored by someone called “Vickie” on a Russian download site, it said.

 

GFI said downloading and installing the .apk from 1mobile.com/gta-vice-city-507346.html will give the end-user a Vice City icon on their dash.

 

But the user will get another message appears telling him or her that “Flash Player is required” and gives a link to a fake Flash player.

 

GFI also noted there is also a similar file on the download site which claims to be a “Z.O.N.A. racing” game, where users may also end up with the same Boxer malware.

 

"Files asking the user to download a fake Flash Player separately is a pretty nifty trick and one that a lot of phone owners could fall for," it noted.

 

GFI said its products will detect the original apps as: Trojan.AndroidOS.FakeInst, and the Boxer variant as: Trojan.AndroidOS.Boxer.d. — TJD, GMA News