Over a dozen smartphone games removed from Google Play for installing malware

Thousands of family-friendly apps from the Google Play Store are potentially violating federal law, according to a new large-scale study. (Dreamstime/TNS)

LOS ANGELES: Google recently removed 13 driving-themed games from the Play store because they contained malware. They were downloaded more than 560,000 times, according to ESET malware researcher Lukas Stefanko. 

Stefanko first warned people about the apps on Nov 19. All of them apparently come from a single developer named Luiz O Pinto.