Beware: Popular photo apps on your phone could be dangerous - here’s how to find out!
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As the year nears its end, many social media users often like to reflect on their achievements throughout the year by posting a ’top nine’ of their favourite images from the past 12 months.
To make the process a bit easier, lots of apps have been developed for this express purpose – but be careful because not all of them are reliable or safe.
That’s why the original platform offering this service, Top Nine, is now warning its users of scams that could be lurking in the app store.
It seems that cybercriminals are taking advantage of the situation and developing dodgy apps that promise to create collages as advertised but that are actually working in the background to steal the user’s personal data and hack into their social media accounts.
Sadly, these apps look extremely similar to the real ones and even have a slight similarity in their name, just to confuse their victims.
‘It’s easy to think that any of the fake apps will work exactly the same, as long as they solve the problem of generating a collage with the best nine Instagram photos of 2022,’ according to a representative from the app Top Nine.
But unsuspecting users should beware that logging into Instagram is not necessary when the profile is public, only for private accounts. If a suspicious app asks for your details, it’s probably a phishing website/app!
To make sure you’re logging in securely, Top Nine advises its users to always check the web browser’s address bar. ‘If you can’t see the address bar, then it’s better not to risk it using this app,’ Top Nine cautions.
So members, if you're keen to set up your own ‘best-nine’ segment on your profile to remember the highs and lows of 2022, please be sure to only use trusted applications and websites - like Top Nine - to ensure your data and accounts stay safe!
To make the process a bit easier, lots of apps have been developed for this express purpose – but be careful because not all of them are reliable or safe.
Many users like to celebrate the end of the year by posting nine of their most popular photos on Instagram. Credit: Top Nine.
That’s why the original platform offering this service, Top Nine, is now warning its users of scams that could be lurking in the app store.
It seems that cybercriminals are taking advantage of the situation and developing dodgy apps that promise to create collages as advertised but that are actually working in the background to steal the user’s personal data and hack into their social media accounts.
Sadly, these apps look extremely similar to the real ones and even have a slight similarity in their name, just to confuse their victims.
Fake apps that steal personal information are targeting social media users who post their ‘top nine’ photos of the year. Credit: Unsplash/Rahul Chakraborty.
‘It’s easy to think that any of the fake apps will work exactly the same, as long as they solve the problem of generating a collage with the best nine Instagram photos of 2022,’ according to a representative from the app Top Nine.
But unsuspecting users should beware that logging into Instagram is not necessary when the profile is public, only for private accounts. If a suspicious app asks for your details, it’s probably a phishing website/app!
To make sure you’re logging in securely, Top Nine advises its users to always check the web browser’s address bar. ‘If you can’t see the address bar, then it’s better not to risk it using this app,’ Top Nine cautions.
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