Google is making amends with its disappointed Android users who were tricked by the fake anti-virus app, Virus Shield, by offering a full refund and an additional $5 promotional credit.
Google, the biggest internet search company, failed to identify a fake anti-virus app that tricked thousands into buying the paid version of Virus Shield app. After learning about the non-functional anti-virus app through Android Police, Google instantly removed it from Play Store but left its buyers with a loss of $3.99. Now, the web giant is making amends with the customers who purchased the fake app by offering them a full refund and an additional $5 promotional credit that can be applied towards any purchase within Play Store.
Virus Shield managed to scale up to the top ranking apps in Play Store in just one week before it was removed by Google. The app secured as many as 30,000 downloads before Android Police examined the code and discovered the app had no anti-virus functionality. By that time, Virus Shield had collected more than $11,000 in revenue.
The company behind Virus Shield, Deviant Solutions came forward to claim that the intention was not to dupe its customers. "One of our developers simply made a foolish mistake," Jesse Carter, whose Deviant Solutions uploaded the app on Play Store, March 28, told the Guardian in an interview earlier this month. "The app version that was decompiled by Android Police was not intended to be released. It was an early placeholder that our UI designer created. There was a mix-up between the version that contained the antivirus code for our app."
While Carter claimed the company's intentions were not to deceive customers, Google acted before Deviant Solution made a move and suspended the Google Play Developer account. But doing so did not regain its customer's lost trust, so the Mountain View based tech company is offering a refund to all users who paid for the fake app within the next 14 days.
"This app made the false claim that it provided one-click virus protection; in reality, it did not," Google Play's policies strictly prohibit false claims like these, and in light of this, we're refunding you for your "Virus Shield" purchase. You should see funds returned to your account within the next 14 days.
Android Police managed to get a copy of the email sent by Google, which details the refund process for the users who purchased Virus Shield app while it was briefly available.
"Google Play's policies strictly prohibit false claims like these, and in light of this, we're refunding you for your "Virus Shield" purchase. You should see funds returned to your account within the next 14 days," the email reads. "Additionally we'd like to offer you $5 promotional credit1, which can be used to purchase digital content on Google Play such as apps, games, books, music and movies."
