Tamil Nadu Police Warn Of Fake Oximeter Apps, Claim It May Steal Your Biometric Data

These apps claim to measure blood oxygen level by placing the finger on the camera and illuminating the finger using torch light, while the malicious apps could capture your fingerprint during the process, say Tamil Nadu Police.

Chennai: With surge in demand for oximeter due to ongoing Covid pandemic, Tamil Nadu police has warned people against downloading fake oximeter apps on their mobile phone as such applications may steal personal or biometric information from the phones.

Encashing people's apprehension during the pandemic, the cybercriminals targeting the vulnerable users through malicious links and applications that steal the personal information or biometric data like fingerprints.

According to PTI news source, police claimed, 'One such scam used by the cybercriminals is the fake oximeter app that claims to detect blood oxygen levels,' the police said in an advisory.

Once the user downloads the fake application which claims to test blood oxygen levels using fingerprint sensors, through a SMS, it asks permission to access various features in the mobile.

If permission is granted, the cybercriminals could steal the sensitive data such as OTP, saved passwords, card details, photos, contacts and even the biometric information that could be used to access banking and other sensitive applications on the phone.

'These apps claim to measure blood oxygen level by placing the finger on the camera and illuminating the finger using torch light.

During this process, the malicious apps could capture your fingerprint,' the police said and warned that the fraudsters could also use the fingerprint data to replicate the thumb impression and authenticate Aadhaar Enabled Payment System (AEPS) transactions from the app user's account.

Several states including Maharashtra and Gujarat have warned people in the past about such fraud apps.

The police advisory claimed that SpO2 blood oxygen sensor is required to measure the blood oxygen levels accurately.

'This is not present in smart phones. Hence, users should be cautious of apps promising to measure blood oxygen levels using fingerprint sensors,' the warning posted on the Tamil Nadu police facebook page said and appealed to the citizens to install applications from trusted sources.

However, in any case if the biometric information is compromised, one should immediately disable biometric authentication for AEPS transaction by visiting www.uidai.gov.in.

The victims could file a complaint on www.cybercrime.gov.in.