Hackers use QR codes to target cellphone users
Print Edition
Mobile phone users are being warned about quick response (QR) codes after several malicious Trojan tools hacked into smartphones and stole personal and bank information stored on the handsets, industry officials said yesterday.
A cyber shop owner, surnamed Wang, lost more than 11,000 yuan (US$1,788) from her online payment Alipay accounts and bank after scanning a QR code by her cell phone.
QR codes are widely used by shops and restaurants to attract customers. People can also scan them to receive information, make payment and add new friends on social network sites like WeChat, used by more than 500 million users in China.
Wang, who sells clothes and apparels online, received a code with the name of a shopping list. She scanned the code and downloaded the files, only to discover her account had been hacked and her money gone.
By sending the virus-infected QR code, hackers can control the user’s phone after they download the files. They can steal information stored on the phone and even block incoming SMS notification from banks and Alibaba, according to one of China’s top Internet security firms Qihoo 360.
The victims, most of them Android phone users, cannot detect the fraud immediately, according to Qihoo 360 and another mobile security firm NQ Mobile.
Users are advised to install security tools and be careful of suspicious file formats.
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