Android app known as Adult Player promises to offer pornography but all the while secretly taking photos of the user using their phone's front-facing camera. The app then holds the user device hostage until the victim pays $500 to a PayPal account.
Once installed the ransomware locks the victim's phone and then display a warning message informing its victim how to lift the lock, according to Wired. The rogue app is not available via the official Google Play app store.
The app's modus was discovered by security company ZScaler. The security research firm posted on its official blog, "This ransomware acts as a porn app named Adult Player and lures victims who assume it is a pornographic video player. When the victim starts using it, the app silently takes a photo of the victim, which is then displayed on the ransomware screen, along with the ransom message."
Upon downloading, the app will demand admin rights. Once the unknowing victim taps Activate, the app will redirect to a fake update page all the while checking the phone if it has a front camera. If a front camera is detected, the rogue app will secretly take photo of the victim.
The ransomware is also coded in a way that it cannot be uninstalled and will keep on reappearing even if the affected device is restarted.
ZScaler said that in order to avoid being infected by such malicious apps, users are advised to download contents only from verified sources. Android users can do this by unchecking the option of downloading from Unknown Sources which can be found in the Security settings of all Android devices.