Smartphone app scam

This was forwarded to me by a friend who works for Ofcom – the UK communications industries regulator.  You can read the whole article on the Ofcom website, here http://consumers.ofcom.org.uk/2011/11/consumers-warned-about-smartphone-scam/

Beware of rogue smart phone apps.  The rogue apps enable the fraudsters to hijack the phones and run up huge bills for victims.

One scam involves criminals taking control of the phones and then repeatedly sending premium rate messages – costing up to £6 per message – to their own services.

Often the victim is unaware anything is wrong until they see their phone bill, or their network provider identifies ‘suspicious’ activity – by which time the fraudsters have moved on to other victims.