Russia Spies on Americans with New Espionage App

(A Putin avatar generated used what is likely his spying app)

The regime of murderous Russian dictator Vladimir Putin found a shrewd way to target American citizens by gathering their personal data.

Russia is using a trendy social media app, named NewProfilePic, that makes you a cool new profile picture.

A Cool Avatar in Exchange For All Your Data

The app in question creates avatars for social media profiles. However, it also harvests the personal information of users, including their photographs with facial-recognition quality.

All of that goes up on servers owned by Linerock Investments, a Russian company based in Moscow. Its headquarters are located right near the building of the Russian Ministry of Defense, The Daily Mail reported.

The report cites Jake Moore, who is a global cybersecurity expert from ESET Internet Security.

He warns Americans and citizens of other western nations against downloading the New Profile Pic app and giving up their facial features and personal data in exchange for the free avatar that it offers.

Moore cautioned that people have got to be extremely careful whenever they are putting up their information and facial photos on new websites and applications.

The name of the company behind Russia’s facial photos harvesting app has been exposed by the Offshore Leaks database.

The register in question reveals that Linerock Investments Ltd has a director in Moscow, Russia and a shareholder company based in Panama City, Panama.

(New Profile Pic app)

Voluntarily Provided Data to Russia-BVI Company

The New Profile Pic app certainly isn’t the first smartphone application harvesting American users’ data and sending it to Vladimir Putin’s regime.

Back in 2017, an application called FaceApp released by a company based in Putin’s hometown, St. Petersburg, caused security concerns.

That was due to all the personal data it was sending back to Russia. The app in question used Artificial Intelligence in order to “age” photos uploaded by the users.

The New Profile Pic (NewProfilePic) app now seems to be a brand-new invention of the Russian regime to capture the personal details and the faces of American and other western citizens.

Instead of “aging” your photo, the NewProfilePic app reworks your photo into a “cool” avatar through the usage of AI.

The app’s description boasts that intriguing avatars will “impress your friends” on various social media platforms, and “keep them interested” in you.

For users to download the app, it requires their “voluntary” consent to give their location, device details, browser type, IP address, and other photographs on their social media profiles, plus the photos provided specially for modification.

A spokesperson for the app is quoted as saying that they are a company from the British Virgin Islands (BVI) and development offices located in Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine.

The spokesperson claimed the images from the NewProfilePic app only go to the company’s Amazon servers and are “deleted,” following a two-week period.

Google, Apple, and Linerock Investments, likely a Putin tool, are yet to comment on the matter.

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