Smartphone owners warned of malware disguised as innocent apps

November 08, 2011

Malware disguised as innocent smartphone apps that secretly send expensive messages are on the increase, warn online security experts.

Fraudsters are planting rogue apps that lurk in the ‘back-end’ of phones and send messages and make calls to their own premium-rate services that do not show up in the ‘sent messages’ folder or ‘call history’.

The messages can cost as much as £6 ($9.78 CAD) a go and some malware sends unauthorised texts at a rate of one a minute, warns GetSafeOnline.org, an internet security initiative. Read more