It seems that it's not only news that can be faked nowadays. Adblock Plus, one of the internet's most recognizable ad-blocking software, has been copied and its fake version appeared on the Chrome Web Store before being taken down by Google.
In light of the recent fake Adblock Plus, the software company posted a blog advising people on how to check and make sure that the Adblock Plus they have is a legit copy. Users who downloaded and installed the recent extension are recommended to make sure that they have the genuine one by going to their Chrome, then clicking on More Tools and opening Extensions.
After that, they are advised to look for Adblock Plus and open Details. The users will be taken to the download page on the Chrome Web Store where they are instructed to check for the "offered by adblockplus.org" label. It if does appear, then it is the real thing.
The bogus Adblock Plus was also labeled as "App" on the Chrome Web Store instead of an "Extension" like the real one. The counterfeit version appears to have a capital "B" and reads as "AdBlock Plus" instead of the real "Adblock Plus," which sports the lowercase "b."
According to Engadget, one user among the 37,000 users who downloaded the fake copy was barraged with invasive ads instead of blocking them.
Adblock also recommends to just reinstall the software if the first suggestion does not work.
Adblock Plus is an open-source ad-blocking extension that filters content. It was created and developed by a German software development company, Eyeo GmbH (Wladimir Palant). The extension has been launched for Mozilla Firefox and its mobile version as well as Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, Microsoft Edge's beta version, Opera, Safari, Yandex Browser and Android.
