UBER Customers Warned, Smartphone App Virus That could Steal Bank Card Information

Crooks are targeting the most popular international taxi and ride-sharing services with malware that can nab credit card details

 UBER customers have been warned that crooks have found a way to steal their credit card details as they use the ride-sharing app.

The tech company is reportedly one of several targets which cyber crooks are using to prey on the public.

Uber’s algorithm means prices are raised when there’s high demand against supply

Kaspersky Labs have said that Uber users are “at risk” of malware dubbed Faketoken, which disguises itself in games and imitates Adobe Flash Player.

Victims might have clicked on what appears to be a prompt to update their Flash plugin while watching a video on their phone.

But they will have unwittingly downloaded Faketoken, which can live-track their apps.

When a victim opens a ride-sharing app like Uber, Faketoken creates a fake window to steal their bank card details when they type them in.

The malware has identical interfaces, with the same colour schemes and logos to creates an instant and completely invisible overlay, Kaspersky said

This kind of overlaying is a common function enabled in many mobile apps.

Callous crooks will do whatever they can to nab all your details and love to target the vulnerable – including stressed A-level students who were struggling to find uni spotsyesterday.

It appears that criminals are targeting several of the most popular international taxi and ride-sharing services with their fraud tech.

Last year, a version of Faketoken attacked more than 2,000 financial apps around the world by disguising itself as various programs and games.

Since then, Faketoken has morphed into a more sophisticated threat.

Viktor Chebyshev, a security expert at Kaspersky Lab said: “The fact that cyber criminals have expanded their activities from financial applications to other areas, including taxi and ride-sharing services, means that the developers of these services may want to start paying more attention to the protection of their users.

“The banking industry is already familiar with fraud schemes and tricks, and its previous response involved the implementation of security technologies in apps that significantly reduced the risk of theft of critical financial data.

“Perhaps now it is time for other services that are working with financial data to follow suit.

“The new version of Faketoken targets mostly Russian users. However, the geography of attacks could easily be extended in the future. We have seen that with previous versions of Faketoken and other banking malware in the past.”

“However, the geography of attacks could easily be extended in the future. We have seen that with previous versions of Faketoken and other banking malware in the past.”

Faketoken has been spotted targeting travel and hotel booking apps, apps for traffic fine payments, Android Pay and the Google Play Market.

Source : The Sun.

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