SMARTPHONE SCAMS

Mobile phones that can access the internet are now being targeted by scams, such as viruses that can be sent as attachments via text or email messages. The majority of mobile phones do not have any virus protection – a programme that checks for incoming viruses – so they are susceptible to being infected and hacked.

Typical problems that can arise include stealing your contact details, which results in bogus messages being sent to everyone in your contacts list. These recipients think the message is from you, but there is often an attachment to open, which starts the process of hacking and stealing their contact details.

The problem never seems to go away, with more messages sent from different email addresses to your recipients, but always with your name as the sender.

To make matters worse, you can also receive bogus phone calls and text messages explaining that you have a virus and that it can be removed by paying a fee. You may well have such a virus, but it can never be removed by paying someone in this way.