Fake Mercadopago APP

I'm making this post for informational purposes, so you can keep in mind this new scam that is becoming more and more frequent in businesses.
MercadoPago is a digital wallet that lets you transfer money from one account to another. Very recently, SEVERAL replica apps came out. I stress SEVERAL, because there is more than 1.

In this post I'm going to show you not only how it looks and how it works, but also highlight some tips you can share with your friends who own businesses so they don't fall for this scam.


Home screen:


At first glance, the main screen where the balance is shown looks very similar to the original, but it has 2 things that let us quickly identify whether this app is fake or not.

1) Almost none of the icons work
2) If we rotate the phone, the APP rotates too and all the styles, icons and texts break (the original mercadopago app does not rotate)


Transfer screen


This screen has a hidden menu that expands from the left side.
It has fields to fill in with the business name, bank, CUIT and CBU. This same information is what the fake receipt then shows. So the person who is going to scam will first go to the business, pay with the real app and obtain the business's details. Once this is done, they have the seller's details. Then they simply fill them into the fake app and can issue these fake receipts.


Payment screen:


The screens are very similar. If we look closely, the receipt has some visual errors. But in a rush, it goes unnoticed.


How to avoid scams:


That small flyer presents two possible solutions. And the third is to take a good look at the app of the person paying us to see whether or not it's the fake app. The easy way is to ask them to rotate the phone (auto-rotate must be enabled on the phone, otherwise it won't rotate)

I hope this helps so they don't scam more of your acquaintances with businesses!

(DO NOT ASK FOR THE FAKE MERCADOPAGO APP. IT IS NOT AVAILABLE)