Google's new Early Access tier for the Play Store hides ratings and reviews, and scammers have already moved in.
Security firm Bitdefender says the program, meant to let small developers test unfinished apps before a wide release, has become a magnet for fake casino apps, cloned utilities, and malware disguised as games. Because Early Access hides user ratings and reviews, there's no visible signal warning other users away from a bad app. Bitdefender found ads on Facebook and TikTok using deepfakes of celebrities like Cristiano Ronaldo, Jason Statham, and Andrew Tate to push people toward these listings, along with fake apps riding the hype for upcoming releases like Grand Theft Auto VI. When Google removes one scam listing, Bitdefender says a near-identical copy often reappears under a different developer account.
This matters because reviews are the one crude-but-functional check most people actually use before installing an app. Strip that away and you're left trusting Google's automated screening alone, precisely when apps are newest, least polished, and least proven - the moment scrutiny should be highest, not lowest. Fake gambling and crypto-reward apps in particular thrive on this kind of low-visibility launch window, since victims often don't realize they've been scammed until after they've paid in.
Early Access was pitched as a beta-testing tool. Right now it functions more like a loophole for exactly the kind of app the Play Store's review system was built to catch.