London Nov 3 (IANS) A fake and possibly malicious version of Facebook-owned WhatsApp was found lurking on Google Play Store as "Update WhatsApp Messenger" with developer name as WhatsApp Inc* .
When IANS checked it on the Play Store we found the app has been downloaded up to 5 000 times. There is another version under the same name which has a million downloads.
The original WhatsApp has 1 billion downloads.
The existence of the shady software was first highlighted by the popular WhatsApp change tracking website WABetaInfo via Twitter user @MujtabaMHaq IB Times reported late on Thursday.
According to the report a version of popular mobile game Temple Run 2 can also be found which was uploaded in October.
The software posing as WhatsApp Business already have several users complaining about it in comments section.
"DON T DOWNLOAD THIS APP! IT S FAKE! WhatsApp Business is not officially available yet for all " the WABetaInfo social media account tweeted to its 30 000 followers.
It added: "Check only official channels to download WhatsApp Business in future."
WhatsApp Business is yet to launch as a standalone service.
--IANS
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