Several Popular Beauty Camera Apps Caught Stealing Users' Photos

However, instead of displaying a final result with the edited photo, the app serves users with a fake update prompt in nine different languages which lead, again, to a phishing site.

"The authors can collect the photos uploaded in the app, and possibly use them for malicious purposes — for example as fake profile pics in social media," Trend Micro researchers wrote in a blog post.

In an attempt to hide their activities, some of these apps used various methods, including hiding the app icon from the drawer/launcher, which would make it more difficult for regular users to spot and uninstall the offending apps.

After being made aware of the malicious apps, Google removed them from its Play Store, but this is unlikely to prevent malicious apps from plaguing the Android app store in the future.

Android malware continues to evolve with more sophisticated and never-seen-before capabilities with every passing day, and spotting them on Google Play Store doesn't come up as a surprise.

The best way to prevent yourself from falling victim to such fishy applications in the future is always to download apps from trusted brands only, even when downloading from the official app store.

Moreover, look at the app reviews left by other users before downloading any app and avoid those that mention any suspicious behavior or unwanted pop-ups after installing.

Last but not least, always keep a good antivirus app on your Android device that can detect and block such malicious activities before they can infect your device, and keep them up-to-date.