FakeAdsBlock

Nowadays, a smartphone has become part of almost everyone's life,, and it is only natural that shady individuals will try to find a way to exploit this. This is why the number of malware strains and dodgy software targeting smartphones is certainly on the rise. Another pest that targets tablets and smartphones is adware. Creators of adware invent new techniques to convince the user to give their application the permissions it requires and then begin spamming constant advertisements constantly. Among the newest Android adware is called FakeAdsBlock. It seems that the developers of the FakeAdsBlock adware are propagating it through third-party Android application stores. Funnily enough, the authors of the FakeAdsBlock adware have opted to mask their creation as an application that is meant to block advertisements. However, as you may have noticed already, the FakeAdsBlock adware does the exact opposite and will make sure to bombard its users with unwanted advertisements all the time. When malware researchers studied this adware further, they found that its developers might be planning to disguise it as a pirated movie in future operations.

How FakeAdsBlock Operates

When a user downloads the FakeAdsBlock adware, the application will ask for several permissions immediately:

• Permission to install and set up a new VPN connection, which is a permission that you should be extremely careful with and not grant to unknown applications certainly. The FakeAdsBlock adware, however, does not take advantage of this permission.
• Permission to set up a new widget on the home screen of the user.
• Permission to put an overlay on all applications that are running.

If the FakeAdsBlock adware was a legitimate ad-block service, it would not request to display an overlay on all applications but, instead, would prevent content like this from being displayed. None of these permissions would be required if the FakeAdsBlock was a genuine ad-block service, and this should raise some red flags for users certainly.

Advertisement Bombardment

However, if the user falls for this and grants all the permissions requested, the FakeAdsBlock adware will start spamming them with constant irritating advertisements. The FakeAdsBlock adware does not hold back and makes sure that it displays advertisements in every spot where they can be displayed. This includes Web browser tabs, application menus, notification area, on top of other applications that are running, etc. Reports state that in some cases, the FakeAdsBlock adware goes as far as launching new windows while the users are browsing the Web and referring them to advertising websites. The developers of the FakeAdsBlock adware have developed the adware’s home screen widget in a rather clever manner. They have made sure that the home screen widget is invisible, and thus the user may not realize where all the advertisements are coming from.

Getting rid of the FakeAdsBlock adware may prove to be quite the task. If too many applications was installedon your mobile phone, it may be even more difficult to wipe out the FakeAdsBlock adware. The FakeAdsBlock adware does not have an icon and has an empty name, so spotting it is very difficult. It is advisable to download and install a reputable anti-virus application that will help you in removing the FakeAdsBlock adware from your mobile device.