Google, the tech giant, is preparing to take legal action against individuals who allegedly used fraudulent Android apps to deceive users and steal their digital assets. The company has filed a lawsuit in New York against Yunfeng Sun and Hongnam Cheung, both Chinese nationals, accusing them of defrauding customers on the Google Play App Store of thousands of dollars worth of digital assets.

According to Google’s complaint, the scammers employed social engineering tactics, using text messages to lure victims to their fake Android apps. These text messages, disguised as coming from wrong numbers, would initiate conversations with the victims, ultimately leading to the development of “friendships” and “romantic attachments.”

The scammers would then convince their targets to invest money into the fake apps, but would only allow them to withdraw small amounts of their supposed “earnings” before vanishing completely. When victims attempted to withdraw larger sums, they were instructed to pay additional money. The scammers would disappear when victims reached out to their supposed “friends” or “romantic partners” for assistance.

To create an illusion of legitimacy, Sun and Cheung utilized YouTube videos, fake press releases, and social media marketing for their apps. Google had to disable a total of 87 fake apps, which had been downloaded worldwide approximately 100,000 times, in connection with these fraudulent activities.

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