Pokemon GO traffic accident is a fake, so is this app,and arrest of Pokemon GO armed robbers

Just like the Kardashians (only more tolerable) it seems like Pokemon GO is everywhere you look. During dinner at a local Dallas restaurant our waitress apologized for the slow services as, and I quote, “my fellow waiter has gone missing. He was last seeing finding a Squirtle outside the restaurant”!

The augmented reality is so popular that according to Similar Web, the number of daily active users is about to surpass twitter!

Other interesting stats include:

• Pokemon GO was installed on 5.6% of all Android devices in the United States
• Pokemon Go is installed on more Android phones than Tinder
• The game seems to also be responsible for Nintendo’s stock price which soared by a massive 23.33%.
• The average Pokemon users are spending twice the amount of time engaged with Pokemon GO than they are on apps like Snapchat.

But its not all fun and games:

Armed robbers use Pokemon GO

Police in O’Fallon, Missouri, posted on their Facebook page that they are investigating a series of armed robberies where they believe the robbers used the Pokemon Go smartphone app to target victims.  While the details are not fully explained it is believed that the robbers added a beacon to a Pokestop to lure more players there, and then used the app to locate victims.

Massive Car Pileup due to Pokemon GO

While driving around with my kids, I often hear them screaming with delight about a Pokemon that just appeared on our route or a Gym that is ready to be claimed. The app encourages people to take a stroll around the neighborhood and therefore it is built with elements that require time, such as time to fight and catch the Pokemons that are lurking around – however when driving this is not possible as the car is not stationary for long enough.

We all know that it is only a matter of time before someone has a serious accident while being distracted with the Pokemon GO game.

A story already circulated that 26-year-old Lamar Hickson recently caused a massive car accident while playing Pokemon Go. However the story is fake. The photograph of the highway accident used in the article was actually a picture of a pile-up on Interstate 25 near Denver that took place in March 2014 (according to Snopes).

There is more bad news: Hackers.

Due to the apps popularity, hackers have of course created a clone of the app and are offering it to fans in countries where the app is not officially available. Hackers encourage those wanna be Pokemon GO users to download the app from their servers and not from the official app stores. By doing that, hackers are able to inject DroidJack or SandroRAT  which are RAT applications (Remote Access Tools). These allow the hacker to take control of the victim’s cell phone, make calls to premium numbers and even record audio from the phone, take pictures and video, track the phone’s location and delete information on the device.

So please only install apps from the official app store and not from links ! If you did install your app from a link, check the permissions that the app uses. If you see any of these, remove the app immediately.