Facebook parent company Meta has filed a lawsuit against several Chinese developers accusing them of creating knock-off WhatsApp Android apps that were used to hijack over a million user accounts. The company also revealed it had identified some 400 apps dedicated to stealing Facebook login credentials and reported them to Apple and Google.
On Tuesday, the tech giant filed suit in a U.S. District Court in San Francisco against Rocky Tech, Luokai Technology, and ChitChat Technology—three separate companies based in Hong Kong, Beijing, and Taipei City, respectively. The suit accuses the defendants of facilitating a scheme to take over more than one million WhatsApp accounts using trojanized apps that were advertised as “modified” versions of WhatsApp. These apps, which were promoted as “legitimate alternatives” to the encrypted messaging service, were actually loaded with malware and, unbeknownst to the hapless users, would pilfer personal device information—thus allowing for account takeovers.
