Gionee 'intentionally inflicted' over 2 crore mobile phones with malware

Written By DNA Web Team | Updated: Dec 07, 2020, 04:22 PM IST

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Gionee pushed a Trojan Horse virus through an update after which, the mobile users were showered with unwanted advertisements.

If you do not trust Chinese mobile phones then you are not wrong. Recently, a Chinese handset maker did such an act that earned it a lot of criticism. The firm intentionally planted malware in about 2 crore devices used by its customers and the whole incident came to light after it was caught.

As per a report on tech site themobileindian, the Chinese mobile company Gionee has recently been found guilty of this act. The company intentionally put a Trojan Horse Virus on mobile phones in about 2 crore (about 20 million) mobile phones through an app between December 2018 and October 2019. The company did so without taking any permission from the device owners.

According to the information received, Shenzhen Zhipu Technology Co. Ltd, a subsidiary of Chinese company Gionee, pushed the Trojan Horse virus in the name of the update in the users' mobile. After this, these mobile users were showered with unwanted advertisements. The company earned about $4.2 million (around Rs 31 crore) with the help of these advertisements.

The scandal came to light when a Chinese court found Gionee guilty of this act. The court sentenced the guilty officers to 3 to 3.5 years imprisonment. 

Apart from this, a fine of about 22 lakh rupees has been imposed on each guilty officer.