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Crappy Old Nokia Phone Turns Out to Be Criminal Super-Weapon

Categories: Nokia, Random, Rumors
By: , IntoMobile
Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009 at 9:46 AM

Huh! Some batches of this old Nokia 1100 apparently has the capability to intercept sensitive banking information sent over SMS, and is fetching upwards of €25,000 ($32,413 US) on the black market. By hacking into particular 1100s pumped out of a Bochum, Germany plant, criminals can reprogram the phone to have someone else’s phone number. The dastardly cyberthieves then scam the victim to send a Transaction Authentication Number (TAN) to what they think is their own phone via SMS, which is actually intercepted and used for a one-time online transfer. Russian, Moroccan, Latvian and Romanian gangs are currently trying to get their mitts on these phones according private investigators, and considering only six months ago the Nokia 1100 was fetching €5,000, the price is bound to go up.

[TechWorld via SlashGear]

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About The Author

Simon Sage

Simon Sage’s education largely surrounded writing, technology and online community, leading him to begin his blogging career at www.BlackBerryCool.com and to quickly discover a vibrant and active community surrounding BlackBerry and mobile technology. In exploring RIM’s platform, he has learned what enterprises are looking for in mobility as well as what makes the innocuous BlackBerry so appealing to them. Recently Simon’s been covering RIM’s gradual move into an already-crowded consumer market, and the impact of burgeoning challengers, such as the iPhone, as well as long-time leaders, like Nokia, on BlackBerry’s advancement. With plenty of content under his belt, Simon will be branching off a bit to see what other smartphone manufacturers are working on while still using BlackBerry as a barometer. At IntoMobile, you can count on his posts being even-handed, well-informed and thought-out.