Smartphone scams to rise in 2011

 

Beware of viruses that could extract financial and personal information from your smartphone next year.

Criminal attempts to scam people by infecting their smartphones with sophisticated viruses could become more common in 2011, experts have warned.

Viruses putting smartphone users at risk of “monetary, privacy or data loss” could become increasingly common from January next year, mobile security firm AdaptiveMobile said.

Smartphone viruses are also becoming increasingly sophisticated, the firm stressed, and most users don’t even realise that there is a problem until it’s too late.

Gareth Maclachlan, chief operating officer at AdaptiveMobile, said: “2011 will see the emergence of the ‘compound threat’ – intelligent scams designed to exploit multiple phone capabilities.”

Viruses simultaneously targeting multiple phone features could arrive next year, he added.

Simon Piper, business development manager at Mobilechoices.co.uk, said: “Simply being careful what you do with your smartphone and who you wirelessly share information with will help keep you safe.”

To avoid possible smartphone threats:

• Only install apps from trusted sources, such as the the iPhone App Store
• Don’t let websites store your credit card information
• Think carefully about what information you share from your smartphone and with who.

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