As you likely know, cybersecurity is an ever-present challenge in the digital world. You need to take care not to fall victim to scams designed to steal your personal information. We’re here to bring another scam to your attention, one called FluBot.
FluBot is malicious software that aims to steal your financial logins. The kicker is that this software is actually installed by you, just without your knowledge. The scam is as follows; you receive a text message letting you know you have a package arriving soon, and to click a link to track it. When you click that link, you’re taken to a separate pop-up page, that could feature one of a few different types of alerts.
You could see a pop-up asking you to download their tracking software, with a button for you to click to do so. Another pop-up could say that you have a new voicemail message, but that it’s so high-quality that you need to download their app in order to listen to it. Finally, you might see a big red warning, letting you know that FluBot is actually already installed on your Android, with the only way to remove it being to download their security update.
All three of these pop-ups feature a button or link that allows you to download the “software” that fixes the fake problem they’ve set up for you. When you do, however, you’re actually downloading FluBot malware onto your own device.
Don’t fall for this scam; never tap on strange links from contacts you do not know. Do not click on links in pop-ups that purport to help you solve a problem you didn’t know you had. At this time, FluBot only affects Android, so if you’re an iPhone user, you’re safe for now. But these practices still apply to you as well.