HYDERABAD: Nostalgia could come at a price, warn cyber cops, referring to photo-editing apps promising to turn ordinary photographs into retro snapshots.
Telangana Cyber Security Bureau (TGCSB) director Shikha Goel cautioned citizens against clicking on attractive offers for retro photo-editing apps, saying fraudsters were using the trend to trick users into downloading malicious apps.
The bureau said fraudsters are resorting to offering free or unlimited access to apps that give photographs an old-school 1980s look. Users clicking on the accompanying links may instead be directed to download APK files from unverified sources.
Once installed, these malicious apps can seek permissions far beyond what a photo-editing tool would normally require, giving fraudsters access to SMS, contacts, notifications, device information and other personal data, as well as banking and financial information.
This exposes the user to unauthorised transactions, identity theft and other cybercrimes.
“An attractive photo-editing offer can be a trap. Think before you click, verify before you install, and never trust unknown APK files,” Goel said.