Google has decided to do an end-of-year spring clean and rid the Android Market of a number of cloned games which were said to contain malware.
The games are 'free' versions of well-known premium titles and, according to Sophos, have all been created by developer Logastrod.
The games may seem legit on the Market but once downloaded they have access to a phone's SMS capabilities and can start sending premium rate text messages to users.
Not playing fair
According to Google's stats, the games were downloaded over 10,000 times by unwitting users.
The games which were taken off the Market after being online for more than a day are:
Cut the Rope FREE
NEED FOR SPEED? Shift FREE
Assassin?s Creed® Revelations
Where's My Water? FREE
Riptide GP FREE
Great Little War Game FREE
World of Goo FREE
Angry Birds FREE
Shoot The Birds FREE
Talking Tom Cat 2 Free
Bag It! FREE
Talking Larry the Bird Free
Talking Larry the Bird
Android Market is well known for not being as regulated as other app stores, and Sophos does warn of what it believes is lax regulation by Google.
"We have already stated several times that the requirements for becoming an Android developer that can publish apps to the Android market are far too relaxed," explained Sophos.
"The cost of becoming a developer and being banned by Google is much lower than the money that can be earned by publishing malicious apps.
"The attacks on Android Market will continue as long as the developer requirements stay too relaxed."