- ThreatFabric Found Fake IPTV App “Massiv” Acting as Banking Trojan
- The malware targets Portuguese users and steals data through overlays and accessibility services.
- Criminals open fraudulent bank accounts, launder money and put victims into debt
If you are looking for a new IPTV application, make sure you do not install Massiv, because it is just a banking trojan that pretends to be a legitimate IPTV application.
Security researchers ThreatFabric recently discovered the scam and said Massiv uses screen overlays and keylogging.
It primarily targets people in Portugal and seeks information from two major apps: a government app and a digital authentication signature system that the app connects to, called Chave Móvel Digital.
Fake IPTV applications increase
There are two ways criminals can use Massiv: to live stream what is happening on the victim’s device or to extract structured data from the Accessibility Service, including visible text, interface element names, screen coordinates, and interaction attributes. Researchers say the second mode is great for bypassing screenshot protections that are common in banking and communications apps.
Once attackers obtain the data they need, they use it to open bank accounts in their victims’ names. This allows them to launder money, obtain loans or withdraw money.
“MTI’s investigation identified cases where new accounts were opened in the name of the victim (user of the infected device) at new banks and services (not used by the victim),” ThreatFabric said in its report.
“Since these accounts are completely under the control of the fraudsters, they can use them as part of a money laundering scheme, as well as to obtain loans and withdraw the money, leaving the unsuspecting victim with debts in the bank where they themselves never opened an account.”
ThreatFabric claims that IPTV apps are increasingly being used as a decoy for Android malware. Since these apps are typically used for copyright infringement, they are difficult to find on Google Play and users often turn to unofficial channels to obtain them, giving attackers plenty of room to deploy malware.
In most cases, researchers maintain, IPTV is fake and does not offer access to pirated streams.
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