If you like using texting apps to communicate with others, you may have downloaded one called Telegram. It has well over a million reviews in the Google Play Store, so it’s safe to assume it has a lot of users. Some enterprising developers decided to take advantage of Telegram’s popularity and open source code and make money off it by placing advertisements that when clicked will net them funds. And it’s pretty difficult to tell the difference between the real one and the malware too.
The imposter app is different in a couple of obvious ways. However, to someone doing a quick search, it would be difficult to tell. The spelling of the phony one replaces one of the e’s with an “i,” hoping some just don’t notice the misspelling. The developer name is also different. The official one is Telegram, Inc. If you have downloaded one from a different developer and with a spelling other than “Telegram,” it could be the malware version.
Once it’s on the device, it has only minor differences. For example, the colors are slightly different, the icon is a bit snazzier, and the ad placement is more front and center, as opposed to on the borders.
The poser also is downloaded from a third party location. It really is safer to steer clear of sideloading. That’s when you download from sites other than the official app store for your device(s). When products are put into these official stores, they go through additional scrutiny that often gets missed when they are placed on other sites.
Open source applications are good and bad. They are great for collaboration among developers. When issues are found, they can be fixed fairly quickly. However, because it’s open, it can also be revised by bad actors to do something that you’d rather they didn’t, like happened in this case.
So far it seems that the only damage the malware version is doing is making money for whoever created it. However, it’s not out of the question that it can quickly be revised, and an update issued to make it do something worse. If you have downloaded the “Teligram” version to your Android device, delete it now. You should also have security software installed on your products. Some will protect against downloading malware-infested apps.
If you want the legitimate version of Telegram, head on over to the Google Play Store and get it from there. You’ll be happier.
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