Eye on scams: Keep an eye out for fake app scams

Sylvia Masters
·3 min read

LAFAYETTE, La. (KLFY) — Many people download apps to their phone but what they may not know some of them come with scammers who are trying to get your personal information.

You store important personal information, from passwords to banking details, on your phone. Unfortunately, scammers are lurking on the app stores of apple and google.

Ochsner Lafayette General fire causes NICU evacuation

Chris Babin with the Better Business Bureau of Acadiana explains how these scams work.

“Almost everything has an app that can be downloaded on a phone. We just want everyone to be leery of the apps they’re downloading,” said Babin. “Make sure you’re downloading the actual app. There’s a lot of personal information on our phone, even financial information that we have saved, and when you download an app, you might be giving that app insight to some of that information if you’re not careful.”

Thanks for signing up!

Watch for us in your inbox.

Subscribe Now

KLFY Daily Digest

Scammers are lurking on the app stores we have on our phones, looking to steal personal and financial information, including any passwords we may have saved.

“Scammers have been known to create lookalike apps. Not the actual application that you think you’re downloading,” Babin explained. “It just looks like it, so you want to check into the privacy policy. You want to check into what that app is supposed to be doing on your phone once you download it and all applications have to have you approve what you allow access to your phone so make sure you’re actually reviewing that list of what you’re actually giving that application access to.”

When you download an app, take a few minutes to read the app’s privacy policy. Take notes of what personal information the app will access and how it will use that information.

“Some apps do need some of that personal information to be able to function depending on the type of app it is but the last thing you would want to do is download an app that is going to save all of our passwords let’s say, including to your bank account and everything else and the app itself was just created for scammers to get that information. So you just want to make sure you’re vetting the app before you’re download it and give it access to your information.”

Here’s how you can download app safely:

  • Download from official app stores. Trusted app stores don’t eliminate the threat of app scams, but they do offer a basic level of protection.

  • Don’t rely on high star ratings when downloading an app. Keep in mind that shady app developers can generate or purchase fake reviews.

  • Read good and bad reviews. Scammers can push good reviews to the top of the list by getting fake users to make them as “Helpful.”

  • Read the app’s privacy policy. Take a few minutes to read the app’s terms of service and privacy policy and take note of what personal information the app will access.

  • And lastly, report fraudulent apps. You can report app scams to bbb.org/scamtracker.

If you have a scam you’d like me to investigate, feel free to send me an email at smasters@klfy.com.

Latest Posts

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KLFY.com.