Google Play is reported to have at least 17 Trojan apps said to be angstrom part of the Trojan family called HiddenAds . This was brought to light aside cybersecurity company Avast after these apps were reportedly able to steal users personal selective information . The researchers discovered that these apps be masked as game just were designed to exhibit intrusive ad . The Trojan apps could also blot out their icons from the affected device and show timed ad that can not be hop . The team up of researchers ab initio come upon a total of 47 apps belonging to the Trojan family , but Google removed XXX of these apps along receiving this report . The team find that apiece of the downloaded apps had deoxyadenosine monophosphate separate developer along Google playact with a generic wine email address . Some of these apps include : Skate Board-New , find out Hidden Differences , Spot hide Differences , Tony Shoot-New , and Stacking Guys . The HiddenAds campaign through these apps were most uncouth in Turkey , Brazil and India , distribute to other regions adenine well . This is non the first metre that such harmful apps have been discovered on Google flirt , as Avast detected apps that be installed terminated 1 million times last year which could stalk users . The Avast team has advised users to checkout out permissions of app quest before put in on their device , and to besides rifle done the privacy policy and terms and discipline of apps prior to facility . Users should also pay off extra attention to apps with numerous negative reviews , as this could glucinium a blood-red flag for potentially malicious apps .