Meta alerted millions of Facebook users to password-stealing apps

Facebook owner Meta has warned millions of social media users that they may not be safe from smartphone applications designed to steal social media passwords.

The company says it has identified more than 400 insecure applications designed for Apple and Android smartphones so far this year.

David Agranovich, Metta’s director of threat prevention, said the apps are available on the Apple and Google app stores.

A blog post by Meta said the apps were listed on the Google Play Store and Apple’s App Store and were presented as photo editors, games, VPN services, business apps and other utilities to trick people into downloading them.

Meta said such apps often ask people to log in with their Facebook account information to access certain features, according to the AFP news agency. And if the password is entered, they steal it.

More than forty percent of the apps the company found included ways to edit photos. Some of these apps were as simple as using smartphones as flashlights.

Facebook’s parent company said it shared the information it received with Apple and Google. The company said that Apple and Google control and investigate the products offered on their app stores.

According to AFP, Apple did not respond to questions about whether it had taken action against any of the apps identified by Meta.

Google, on the other hand, said that it had already identified most of the apps identified by Meta and removed them from the Play Store under its investigation system.

A Google spokesperson said users are also protected by the “Google Play Protect” feature that blocks these apps on Android phones.