London: A fake and possibly malicious version of Facebook-owned WhatsApp was found lurking on Google Play Store as "Update WhatsApp Messenger" with developer name as `WhatsApp Inc*`.


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When IANS checked it on the Play Store, we found the app has been downloaded up to 5,000 times. There is another version under the same name which has a million downloads. 


The original WhatsApp has 1 billion downloads. 


The existence of the shady software was first highlighted by the popular WhatsApp change tracking website WABetaInfo, via Twitter user @MujtabaMHaq, IB Times reported late on Thursday.


According to the report, a version of popular mobile game Temple Run 2 can also be found which was uploaded in October.


The software posing as WhatsApp Business already have several users complaining about it in comments section.


"DON`T DOWNLOAD THIS APP! IT`S FAKE! WhatsApp Business is not officially available yet for all," the WABetaInfo social media account tweeted to its 30,000 followers. 


It added: "Check only official channels to download WhatsApp Business in future."


WhatsApp Business is yet to launch as a standalone service.