Fake version of GTA Vice City leads to malware
Piracy is a vice, alright
Android gamers who thought they had found a free version of Grand Theft Auto Vice City wound up with a painful lesson in app piracy instead.
The download itself is free but the resulting game is unplayable and is little more than a vector for a malware infection.
GFI Labs identified the Android version of Vice City as a carrier of a variant of the Boxer malware, which will hijack an infected phone and use it to send out premium rate text messages.
The infected game is only available on a Russian-language download site registered in China, which is certainly not the most reputable place to download apps from.
GTA: Malware CityThis is not the first time that pirates have used a fake Grand Theft Auto game to spread malware across Android devices.
Earlier this summer, the bizarrely named Grand Theft Auto III: Moscow contributed to a huge malware spread before it was pulled by Google Play.
In Google's defense, this latest scam did not run through Google Play but through a third-party website.
It is worth pointing out that Rockstar Games has never authorised a mobile version of Grand Theft Auto Vice City, and to-date only has two apps available on Google Play: Grand Theft Auto 3 and Max Payne Mobile.
