We covered before that Minecraft is a popular choice for game developers to clone, but sometimes they just copy the name. Recently dozens of games that appear to be Minecraft have appeared on mobile app stores, and only end up being filled with adware and advertisements. Although many of these types of "games" are taken down by the App Store/Google Play Store, sometimes they can be visible for weeks or even months. The one above has only been available since yesterday, but already has been downloaded by thousands of users.
We want to remind all our readers that if you want to buy Minecraft, buy it straight from Minecraft.net or with a Minecraft gift card from a popular retailer. For Pocket Edition, make sure to get the official version from the Apple App Store, Google Play Store, or Amazon App Store. Don't download any other apps or games that falsely appear to be Minecraft or Minecraft Pocket Edition, unless you are willing to risk it.
If you are on an Android device, NEVER download an APK of Minecraft Pocket Edition you find on the internet (these are not verified by Google, and often do far worse damage to your device than ones found in the Play Store). In addition, you can always check the permissions of a game or application before you click Install (on Android at least). If you find an APK of Minecraft that needs access to your Phone calls, it's probably not real ;)