Billions of Android users warned to check phones for ‘bank drain’ apps right now – they’ll steal everything they can

APPS on the Google Play Store are usually safe but sometimes malicious ones slip through the safety net.

If you’re worried about an app on your Android phone or if you’ve recently downloaded one from a third-party site you may want to heed Google’s warning.

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Scam apps are dangerous for numerous reasons.

Many try to steal your personal information, sign you up for bank-draining subscriptions, or just bombard you with phone-breaking ads.

That’s why Android users should be using Google Play Protect.

Google says: “Even if you download an app outside of Google Play, Google Play Protect checks the installation and can warn you about a harmful or malicious app.

“Play Protect also scans all the apps on your device every day for harmful ones, even if you’re offline.”

Google Play Protect should be turned on by default but if you turned it off or accidentally denied it permission to scan your phone, it’s easy to turn it back on.

Open the Google Play Store app and click on the profile icon.

Then select “Play Protect” and “Settings”.

Here you can check “Scan apps with Play Protect” is on or switch it on manually.

While you’re in the “Play Protect” section of the Play Store you can also turn on “Improve harmful app detection”.

Click “Play Protect”, “Settings” and then turn the harmful app detection on.

Google says: “If you install apps from unknown sources outside of the Google Play Store, Google Play Protect may ask you to send unknown apps to Google.

“When you turn on the “Improve harmful app detection” setting, you allow Google Play Protect to automatically send unknown apps to Google.”

This post first appeared on Thesun.co.uk