(ECNS) -- Fake apps are posing a growing threat to unsuspecting mobile phone users, the Beijing Times reported Tuesday.
The fake apps come installed with malicious software that can track private data.
A woman named Li said her mobile phone was flooded with pop-up advertisements after she installed a fake game app that looked authentic.
Li said her phone became slower and that many new apps were secretly installed. In several days she had used all her data, which had normally lasted for a month.
An IT technician checked the phone and said the app had installed viruses that wore down Li's phone.
Fake apps also hurt the interests of a mobile game developer surnamed Liu. He said he invested nearly one million yuan ($153,000) in designing a game and received 1,000 downloads per day. However, at least seven fake apps quickly appeared, eating away at his market share.
"I was almost bankrupt because of pirated software," Liu said.
A report by Qihoo 360, a leading antivirus software developer in China, said fake apps accounted for 42 percent of all Android mobile phone apps in 2015. They take advantage of real ones to send advertisements or steal data.
Jiang Jian, a lawyer with Beijing Xiongzhi Law Firm, said fake apps infringe on the copyright of authentic ones and are liable for compensation, but it is difficult to identify their developers.
