Meta, the umbrella company of the world’s most popular instant messaging platform WhatsApp, became the first party of a remarkable lawsuit. The company announced that it has filed a lawsuit against companies named “HeyMods”, “Highlight Mobi” and “HeyWatsApp”. In its complaint, Meta says that these companies have seized at least 1 million WhatsApp accounts and used them for their own purposes.
According to Meta’s claim, these companies developed malware and even published this software on the Google Play Store. The applications, which were also featured on APK sites, were used to access users’ WhatsApp information and send spam messages. In fact, AppUpdater for WhatsPlus 2021 GB Yo FM HeyMods, added to the Google Play Store by HeyMods, was downloaded by 1 million users.
Media such as gambling sites were advertised through stolen accounts!
The developer companies that Meta blamed were coming across users using different methods. For example, with the application called “Theme Store for Zap”, it may seem like it is intended to offer brand new themes to Android phones, or with the application called “AppUpdater for WhatsPlus 2021 GB Yo FM HeyMods”, update support was offered for the “fake” application WhatsApp Plus, which offers more features than WhatsApp.
Of course, these had nothing to do with WhatsApp or Meta, and users were not aware of it. The developers, who consciously or unconsciously stole the accounts on the phones where these applications were installed, then sent messages with illegal advertising content, such as a gambling site, through these numbers. It is not known how many people these messages reach and how they are affected by this situation.
Meta detected malware months ago and issued a warning
As a matter of fact, this case is hardly surprising. Because WhatsApp boss Will Cathcart made a statement on the subject in July and said that they were considering all possibilities, including the legal process regarding these companies. Cathcart also warned users that no WhatsApp application other than the unofficial WhatsApp should be installed.
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