Android users alert! These 9 fake apps can harm your smartphones; uninstall them now

The Android smartphone users face a new challenge in form of some fake apps identified by a cybersecurity firm. These nine apps have been downloaded more than 470,000 times by Android users who mistook them for performance optimization tools. However, these apps are believed to have access to users' Google and Facebook accounts, according to Trend Micro, a Japanese company specializing in cybersecurity.

These apps include - Shoot Clean-Junk Cleaner, Phone Booster, CPU Cooler and Rocket Cleaner Lite, among others. The firm believes that these apps are capable of hiding themselves with names such as “Speed ​​Clean” or “Super Clean”. Basically, they pretend to be tools that can enhance the performance of your smartphone by cleaning certain superfluous files on it.

Here is the full list of fake apps identified by the firm -

- Shoot Clean-Junk Cleaner, Phone Booster, CPU Cooler
- Super Clean Lite- Booster, Clean & CPU Cooler
- Super Clean-Phone Booster, Junk Cleaner & CPU Cooler
- Quick Games - H5 Game Center
- Rocket Cleaner
- Rocket Cleaner Lite
- Speed Clean-Phone Booster, Junk Cleaner & App Manager
- LinkWorldVPN
- H5 gamebox

The firm believes that these apps can download up to 3000 variants of malware on infected smartphones and, access Google and Facebook accounts of the victims to conduct fraudulent advertising practices. These apps will also show you advertisements from legitimate platforms such as Google AdMob or Facebook Audience Network and then simulate clicks on the advertisements.