The guide to dodging dodgy apps

App stores are a breeding ground for pirated or fake apps that want nothing but to ruin your day – here are some to avoid.
Some of the biggest apps available have been downloaded more than 100 million times each, making them prime targets for cloning.
Dodgy apps pose a number of threats to users, including the risk of identity theft, spam and much more.
Lookout keeps its eyes open for what it calls ‘shady apps’ – it analyses 30,000 from around the world every day in an attempt to clear up our app stores from scum.
These are a few of the apps that we should steer well clear of.
Pirated app: It is mainly popular apps such as Candy Crush, Angry Birds and Farmville that get pirated.
They come in the form of fake free versions, that contain ads that put the user in danger of exposing their personal data, or receiving increased spam.
Most of the time these apps only cost £0.69, so the best way to avoid being caught out by pirates, is not to be a cheapskate.
Fake anti virus apps: More than 800,000 Lookout users have come face-to-face with fake antivirus apps last year. These little bastards promise to keep your devices safe however charge extortionate rates, and inform the user of infections when their devices are clean as a whistle.
It turns out these apps are responsible for more than 80 per cent of malware.
Best way to avoid being caught out by this is to avoid them all together. Stick with what you know and don’t fall for the canned positive reviews.
Pornographic apps: Read about these naughty little devils here.
Free money apps: A recent app called Bazuc lured people into its evil web by promising free money if they gave it access to their SMS messages. Those users were surprised when no money was received, and their personal information was exposed. Really??
Basically, money isn’t free and in the majority of cases those apps will take advantage of such greed by punishing your data. So don’t download them.
Black market apps: These nasty appy-slappers just simply lie – they tell you that you are getting one thing, and when you get all excited about it they punch you in the phone. Really hard with spam and ads.
Examples of these are battery optimisers, or fake games such as Temple Jump – which tricks people into thinking it is Temple Run – but its not, because it says jump, not run!
The key here is to look at what you are downloading – and where you are downloading it from. Stick to Google Play, Amazon or the Apple App Store and take the time to find out if it is what it says it is.

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