Smartphone Scams

With everyone carrying around a smartphone these days, it will be no surprise that scammers have been targeting this lucrative segment of their potential victim audience.

The typical scenario is where scammers are creating apps for popular things people would download (like a photo editor or a video player), and embedding code inside the app that takes over control of the phone's texting and - much like it's email counterpart, begins sending out scam text messages to everyone in your address book. And because it is coming from your phone, the person receiving your text is likely to believe it is for real and go to the link provided in the text and thus continue to spread of the scam.

Often the result of acting on the scam text will lead to high cellphone bills at the end of the month or being signed up for regular monthly charges that can be hard to remove.

So be careful to only download apps you are familiar with, from a familiar source and one that has been well "vetted". Ignore text messages from your friends that look "hacked" (saying you've won a gift card or telling you to go download this app at a link you don't recognize). Call them on the phone and verify they in fact sent the message before acting upon it.

And there are a growing number of security apps you can download that scan for viruses and the such on your smartphone. See if one of these are appropriate to keep your smartphone safe from scammers.