Android and iPhone owners warned to check phones now for 249 apps that stole $4.3 million from users trying to make money

MILLIONS of smartphone users have been warned to check their devices for 249 apps that aim to steal your money.

Whether you use Android or iPhone, it pays to remove apps if you spot them on your phone.

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Trend Micro’s threat research team has discovered fraudulent cryptocurrency apps.

In January, they revealed that the apps had stolen about $4.3 million.

The researchers also cautioned that many apps are still out there and discovered several red flags to watch out for.

“Hackers have created a number of different fake crypto wallet apps designed to perfectly mimic real ones, including apps from MetaMask, imToken, Bitpie and Trust Wallet.

“Hackers are smart — they target their victims in multiple ways,” Trend Micro revealed.

Scammers are said to encourage victims to download fake apps via email and text messages.

The messages are convincing and mimic the real message you might receive from one of the most popular cryptocurrency apps.

“Although the scammers regularly update the content of the messages, most often they say that the current version of your crypto wallet application is out of date,” warns Trend Micro.

Victims are then encouraged to download a new version of the app, which is actually a scam.

Hackers are also said to be using fake crypto websites and fraudulent tech support messages to trick people into downloading malicious apps.

The websites are said to look very similar to the real deal and can appear high on search engine results lists.

You may even receive a scam call from cybercriminals telling you to download apps.

Fake versions of the popular imToken, Bitpie, MetaMask, Trust Wallet and TokenPocket have been detected.

“A total of 249 fraudulent apps were discovered that the team found to have been downloaded by victims in countries around the world, including the United States, France, Germany, Australia, New Zealand and Japan,” the researchers found.

The apps work by stealing data that gives hackers access to victims’ real crypto wallets.

Trend Micro suspects that the amount of cryptocurrency stolen in this scam may actually be much higher than $4.3 million.

To be on the safe side, it’s best to download apps only from official app stores.

“If you notice any suspicious behavior while updating a crypto wallet app, stop the update immediately and uninstall the app,” warns Trend Micro.