A scareware campaign has been uncovered that pushes Attack.Phishing a ‘ free ’ VPN app called MyMobileSecure to iOS users via rogue ads on popular torrent sites . The VPN app itself appears to be real Attack.Phishing —but researchers say its privacy policies are dubious , at best . The first interesting thing is the malvertising campaign that ’ s pushing the app . When using iPhone to visit certain sites , a pop-up page plays Attack.Phishing an ear-piercing beeping sound and claims the device is infected with viruses . Tapping on ‘ Remove Virus ’ button opens up the App Store to download the app . “ Such alerts on mobile devices are not new and sadly commonplace via may ad networks these days , ” said Malwarebytes researcher Jérôme Segura , in a blog . “ Usually , aggressive affiliates remunerated per lead will use these kinds of tactics to drive traffic to game apps or even tech support scams ” . In order to activate the free VPN app , users must join the MobileXpression research community . “ Often times , affiliates are not properly policed and we observe scare tactics to force the installation of various pieces of software , ” Segura said . “ It ’ s important to note that those affiliates are normally distinct from the software vendors themselves , but scammy behaviors end up reflecting poorly on everyone ” . In this particular case , “ one can not help but feel that this VPN application comes with some serious baggage and unfortunately the average user will not take the time to review the fine details . If the intent is to use a VPN to anonymize your online activities , this does almost the opposite , ” he added