The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the West Bengal police has warned that downloading fake oximeter apps on mobile phones could lead to phishing attacks and theft of personal data.
“We have not received any specific complaint. But we have received alerts from other security agencies that such apps are circulating in the virtual world. Hence the warning,” said SN Gupta, additional director general of CID.
An oximeter is used to measure the oxygen level in blood. Current guidelines say that Covid-19 patients have to be admitted to hospitals if their oxygen saturation drops to 90% or below (normal is 95 to 100%). Covid-19 patients with severe symptoms or with critical comorbidities are advised to get admitted in hospitals. Patients with mild symptoms are treated at home.
CID officials, however, said that fake oximeter apps have been developed to cheat people with the promise of measuring their oxygen level in their blood. The apps need to be downloaded.
“Some apps have fingerprint scanning option. One the user scans his fingerprint miscreants may get access to fingerprint-protected data on the users’ mobile and on various online payment apps used by the victim,” said a senior CID official.
{{/usCountry}}“Some apps have fingerprint scanning option. One the user scans his fingerprint miscreants may get access to fingerprint-protected data on the users’ mobile and on various online payment apps used by the victim,” said a senior CID official.
{{/usCountry}}Sleuths have warned that messages containing one-time-password (OTP) are also not safe from these apps.
“Miscreants can get access to the users’ personal data, including pictures, saved on mobiles,” said a senior official.
The CID warning was issued on the agency’s social networking account on Sunday urging citizens to “think wisely before downloading such apps.”
“We have not received such complaints. But such things cannot be ruled out even though copying a fingerprint is hard,” said a senior official of the Kolkata Police’s detective department.