Hackers go where money is. They know where to tap gullible users. As Pokemon Go becomes a rage all over the world, a group of hackers uploaded an app in Google Play store that dangles a bite to the users. The malicious app went viral as five lakh Android phone users downloaded the rogue app.

Moscow-based Internet security solutions company Kaspersky Lab experts have noticed over 6,000 infections as the hackers gained access to some of the phones sensitive data. And, India is one of the top victims, along with Russia and Indonesia.

If you’ve been hit, then someone else is inside your phone and has control over the OS and everything you do and store on it. Even though the app has now been removed from the store, there’s up to half a million people out there vulnerable to infection – and we hope this announcement will alert them to the need to take action,” said Roman Unuchek, Senior Malware Analyst, Kaspersky Lab.

“The malicious app is capable of seizing root access rights on Android smartphones and using that to install or uninstall apps and display unsolicited ads. We have reported the Trojan to Google and the app has been removed from Google Play,” the analyst said.

“Once rooting rights have been enabled, the Trojan will install its modules into the device’s system folders, silently installing and uninstalling other apps and displaying unsolicited ads to the user,” the executive said.

He asked the users to exercise caution while downloading the apps. “They must keep their Operating System and application software up-to- date, and not to download anything that looks at all suspicious or whose source cannot be verified,” he said.

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