Every day there are new helpful apps for our smartphones and every day there are new corrupted apps that can lead to identity theft or worse.  A new scam now being done involves you downloading a popular app such as a video player, however the app is corrupted with malware that can take over your text messaging and without your being aware of it, start sending text messages to premium addresses that cost you money.  In addition, the malware can also, without your knowing it make calls to expensive pay-per-call numbers.  It is not until you get your first bill after your smartphone has been infected do you learn about the extra charges.

TIPS

Only download apps from legitimate app stores such as Apple’s App Store or Google’s Play Store.  Anytime you download an app from a source you are not sure of, you are taking a chance.  And even when you download an app from Apple’s App Store or Google’s Play Store, you may find yourself victimized because some of the more creative scammers will release a clean app through the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store, which will check out the app, but later the scammer will send you the malware in an update to your app.  The best thing you can do in addition to only downloading apps from legitimate companies is to make sure that you have good, effective security software installed on your smartphone.  You do it for your computer and your laptop so, make sure that you do it for your smartphone as well.