What can these fake Pokemon GO apps really do?
According to the researchers, the app “Pokémon GO Ultimate” resembled the game itself, but would deliberately lock the screen after startup. Rebooting would not solve the problem, and instead, affected users would have to restart their devices by pulling out their battery or by using Android Device Manager. After a reboot, however, the app would continue to run in the background, clicking on porn advertisements. Users would have to uninstall the application manually from Android’s Settings.
The apps would promise users they could generate large numbers of in-game items like Pokécoins, Pokéballs or Lucky Eggs for Pokémon Go – up to 999,999 daily. However, before delivering on those promises, the apps would require users “verify” their accounts. At this point, fraudulent pop-ups would appear saying things like the device was infected with viruses and needed to be cleaned.