Have you received TEXT messages about Gift from Amazon? Beware it might be malware.
Have you recently received a text message on your phone that says, “Hey , I am sending you $200 Amazon Gift Card You can Claim it here”?
It asks you to redeem your Amazon gift card by installing an APK file that is hosted on the page. This is followed by a URL.
Below is the exact SMS being recieved by Android users:
Hey , I am sending you $200 Amazon Gift Card You can Claim it here : https://bit.ly/getAmazon
If you have then you have become the latest victim of the biggest message-initiate mobile malware.
The malware is known as Gazon discovered by Adaptive Mobile, a mobile security protection company. It is responsible for protecting all the fixed and mobile networks services through in-network and cloud solutions.
The company revealed that it can access the contacts on your phone and then sends a similar message to all of them with the same lucrative offer.
The malware has victimized thousands of people around the world. In North America only, more than 4K devices have been infected by this malware.
VirusTotal explains that this malware cannot be detected by any of the Anti-Virus engines, but it can easily be uninstalled through the standard Android app uninstall utility.
The malicious URL is linked with a Facebook account owned by a real person. It seems that the spam campaign is not a new feat for the profile’s owner. In fact, the recent Whatsapp scam’s clues also can be traced here since stark similarity between the perpetrators of both scams exists.