WhatsApp: Meta sues fake apps that stole 1 million accounts

Chinese companies doing or developing business with others Unofficial WhatsApp apps being sued by Meta. The document states that names like HeyMods, Highlight Mobi and HeyWhatsApp are involved in the process. and such apps would have stolen over a million messenger accounts already..

Meta states in its claim that WhatsApp has more than 2 billion users in 180 countries and that the service for exchanging messages, calling, file transfers and similar is encrypted, violating the Terms of Service of the companies in question.

Between May and July 2022, the defendants quoted the document, “Hacked over a million WhatsApp users to hack their accounts as part of a hack attack” – when an account is “hacked” or “taken”. Allegedly, these accounts were now “used to send commercial spam messages”.

Meta also claims that apps can be downloaded from companies’ respective websites, but can also be downloaded directly from the Google Play Store.

Multiple versions of at least two apps (“AppUpdater for WhatsPlus 2021 GB Yo FM HeyMods” and “Theme Store for Zap”) have abused WhatsApp’s trademarks, according to the company. go beyond, contain malware that collects authentication information from accounts for “hijacking” and unauthorized use after installation. Both apps are currently not available on the Google store.

Bullshit with modified WhatsApp apps

In March of this year, accounts of popular WhatsApp GB users, an unofficial application that offers additional functions on Android, were blocked. The company supported them to recover their account in the official app.

In July, WhatsApp CEO Will Cathcart said it was a “bad idea” to use modified apps from the platform. “These apps promised features, but they were just a scam to steal personal information stored on phones,” he said.