More than a thousand bank customers have unwittingly downloaded malicious banking apps impersonating legitimate ANZ and Commonwealth Bank apps from the Google Play store.



The fake apps appear to have gone undetected for weeks, phishing for credit card details and/or banking log-in credentials from unsuspecting bank customers.

A fraudster impersonated the Commonwealth Bank's app on Google Play. Credit:Josh Robenstone

Nick FitzGerald, senior research fellow at IT security company ESET, said the apps were installed more than 1000 times before it alerted Google two weeks ago. Google would not confirm the number of downloads.

How many Australians actually parted with their personal log-in credentials or credit card information is unknown.