According to local media reports, authorities in Japan have arrested six men in connection with an app that infected Android smartphones, stole personal information and demanded that a fee was paid.
The malware was distributed via an X-rated porn website, and posed as a video player app.
However, users who installed the software were allegedly presented with a screen every five minutes which read:
"Please pay the fees as soon as possible. You need to confirm the unpaid amount. It totals 99,800 yen."
In addition, the app is said to have stolen personal data (such as phone numbers and email addresses) from infected phones.
In total, 9,252 people are said to have downloaded the malicious Android app since the end of December last year. According to police, 211 people were convinced by the app to hand over a total sum of over a quarter of a million dollars to the gang.
Tokyo police arrested six people in connection with the malware, including 45-year-old Chitoru Manago, of Shingu, Wakayama Prefecture; Kazunori Makita, 27, of Edogawa Ward, Tokyo; and Hiroki Koyama, 53, of Setagaya Ward, Tokyo.
If you want to better protect your Android smartphone or tablet from the growing threat of malware on the platform, defended it by installing Sophos’s free anti-virus protection for Android.
