Android users have been warned that a rogue app called SnapTube could be taking money from their bank accounts without them knowing.
The free to download app, which is said to have been downloaded by 40 million Android owners so far, seems innocent enough and allows people to download videos from sites like Facebook and YouTube.
However, it appears that once downloaded, the app can sign users up for premium services without them knowing - and this can prove to be very costly.
Whilst not technically malware, this type of scam app has been labelled ‘fleeceware’, since it can fleece unwitting people out of cash.
These scams take advantage of the fact that apps downloaded from the Google Play Store onto Android devices can take payments from credit or debit cards that are linked to the Play Store account.
This comes in handy when paying for subscription services like Netflix, but a problem if you’ve accidentally downloaded fleeceware apps.
SnapTube initially offers anyone who’s downloaded it a free trial use period, and the worry is people will forget about it and it will then start racking up the premium services charges.
It’s been said that the SnapTube app has collected a huge sum of £78 million through this fleeceware scamming method, with unsuspecting people none the wiser that they’re being charged.
The developer of the app is a company called Mobiuspace, however it has denied that it had any knowledge of the issue and has issued an apology on its website.
MobiusSpace claimed that the hidden charges were a problem connected to another third party app that SnapTube is connected to.
Regardless, as a result of the scam SmapTube has been taken off the Google Play Store.
If you have SnapTube download on to your Android device delete it, and head to the Subscriptions section of the Google Play Store where you can cancel any subscriptions you don’t want to pay for.
