The Application Allows Free Download of Videos from YouTube Silently Draining Users' Money

This article examines Application Allows Free Download of Videos from YouTube Silently Draining Users' Money. It presents the main facts, practical implications, and key points in a clearer, easier-to-follow format.

Understanding Application Allows Free Download of Videos from YouTube Silently

VidMate is an Android application that allows free download of videos from YouTube, WhatsApp. With outstanding features and completely free, VidMate has become the choice of many users, now has more than half a billion users. Global installed this application. However, security experts at Upstream recently discovered that the application is quietly withdrawing money from users' phone accounts.

Accordingly, VidMate has secretly automatically registered payment services, displaying advertisements so that Android smartphones run out of battery quickly, leak personal information and be charged in the account.

Photo: BuzzFeed News.

Upstream Guy Krief said, if users download and install this application on their device, a third party will gain control of their phones and personal information.

VidMate displays hidden ads that make users not know why mobile data is deducted and of course the owner of the application will receive money from the advertiser.

A self-proclaimed VidMate spokesman denied any information published by Upstream, in an interview via Skype. This person refuses to confirm his name and title at VidMate and does not answer any other questions.

According to Upstream, in just 6 months they have blocked 128 million suspicious transactions of users in Egypt, Brazil, and Myanmar using the VidMate application. If these transactions are successful, users may have lost more than $150 million from mobile subscribers without them knowing.

UCWeb, a subsidiary of Alibaba, developed VidMate and they sold the app last year. Currently, a startup called Nemo Fish is the new owner of VidMate.

However, Upstream has detected suspicious transactions of VidMate since October 2017, long before UCWeb sold the application. By 4/2018, these transactions began to increase strongly on a large scale.

Earlier, mobile applications released by Chinese companies such as Cheetah Mobile, DO Global and Kika Tech were also accused of advertising fraud and collecting personal information of users.