This fake WhatsApp app has been downloaded more than a million times

We're surrounded by hoaxes, fake news, spam, malware and...fake apps.

A fake Android app which was disguised as an update to the popular WhatsApp messaging service was downloaded more than a million times from the Google Play Store.

Named "Update WhatsApp Messenger" and developed by "WhatsApp Inc.", the app looked pretty much identical to the official one. It was changed to a different name and then deleted altogether, according to the Reddit user who first flagged the case.

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The fake app was loaded with ads and had some code to download a second piece of software to the users' devices, according to other Reddit users:

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

But how did the developers of the malicious app managed to sneak through Google Play unnoticed?

Well, it looks that they used the exact name "WhatsApp Inc." replacing the space with a special unicode character, a "Space", that looks like a space.

Here's the legit one:

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

And here's the fake:

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

Very difficult to detect.