According to The Verge, a fake "WhatsApp Messenger" listing has been spotted in a sponsored position on Google Play, appearing above the authentic app. The report cites a Reddit user who encountered the impostor; Android Authority previously highlighted the listing. The clone uses the same icon, screenshots, and description as the real WhatsApp, making it hard to distinguish at a glance.
The counterfeit app comes from a developer account called "Agment Assets sallu" with no other published apps. It has amassed more than 500,000 downloads, and its Play Store page was still active at the time of writing. Android Authority notes that the clone may be using Google Play's Early Access program to disable public reviews, which would remove an obvious warning signal for potential installers.
By comparison, the genuine WhatsApp has more than 10 billion downloads, an Editor's Choice badge, and over 246 million reviews. The incident highlights how sponsored ad slots and app-store review mechanisms can be exploited to push impersonators to users. Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment.