Google Play Store is an ocean of apps and games. You may have uses some apps like Clean Master and Battery Doctor. It is from a Chinese app company Cheetah Mobile. One of its subsidiary Kika Tech has recently caught up in an Android ad fraud scheme that stole millions of dollars from advertisers.
According to a report of app analytics firm Kochava, 8 Android apps ( 7 from Cheetah Mobile and 1 from Kika Tech) has total 2 billion downloads on Google Play Store. They have been accused of falsely claiming the credits for driving the installation of new apps in order to claim a fee or bounty.
Many mobile application developers generate revenue by promoting and recommending the installation of other apps inside their apps for a fee or a bounty that typically ranges from $0.50 to $3.00.
However, Kochava found that Cheetah Mobile and its subsidiary Kika Tech apps are misusing user permissions. According to Buzzfeed News.
“This is theft — no other way to say it,” Grant Simmons, the head of client analytics for Kochava, told the publication. “These are real companies doing it — at scale — not some random person in their basement.”
Here’s the list of 8 apps.
- Clean Master (with 1 billion users)
- Security Master (with 540 million users)
- CM Launcher 3D (with 225 million users)
- Battery Doctor (with 200 million users)
- Cheetah Keyboard (with 105 million users)
- CM Locker (with 105 million users)
- CM File Manager (with 65 million users)
- Kika Keyboard (owned by Kika Tech with 205 million users)
So, if you have any of the above-listed apps installed on your Android device, I recommend you to uninstall them immediately. I think this is the best solution.
Cheetah mobile denied that its SDKs were involved in ad fraud. However, Cheetah Mobile blamed third-party SDKs (software development kits) or ad networks for the click injection.
Google told that is still investigating Cheetah Mobile and Kika Tech apps in this matter.
