Jaipur: TikTok, a Chinese video-sharing social networking service which boasts around 800 million active users worldwide, had also gained enormous popularity in India between people of all age groups. However, the controversial Chinese app is now emerging as a means to commit cybercrimes.
The Indian government has banned TikTok along with 58 other apps of Chinese origin. Post the ban, people who have been active users of the app are trying to download it illegally through various means. The desperation to download the app has resulted in cybercriminals taking advantage of the situation.
TikTok users are trying to download the banned app through the APK version of the application. APK is a file through which an application can be downloaded. There are reports that many people have been tricked by APK links sent through SMS.
Read: Fake Tik Tok links in play to snare netizens, says Maha Cyber
A message went viral on WhatApp which claimed that TikTok can be downloaded with the help of the link provided with the message. However, the message turned out to be fake as the link leads to a series of online advertisements.
ETV Bharat also tried to generate awareness on such a link, so that people can know the truth behind it. After clicking on this link, all the numbers in the contact list were transferred immediately to the cybercriminal's account.
READ: JAAGTE RAHO: You could fall prey to Identity cloning
Experts say that people may have compromised on their data privacy as these are malware links that are used in phishing the data from the user's cellphone.
Cybercriminals are taking advantage of the addiction factor of the users to make them download malware into their phones.
Also read: As an error, an email to delete TikTok was sent to Amazon employees by the company
