A 20-year-old Android developer in France is behind bars after he was caught spreading a virus via an Android app that stole user’s passwords and sent text messages to a premium phone number. The unnamed developer created fake apps that mimic original ones in order to trick people into downloading them.
Once on a user’s smartphone, the apps would send text messages to a premium phone number set up by the developer. The app also sent him the login credentials for gaming and gambling websites used by the owners of the infected phones. Over the course of two years, this scam earned the developer over 500,000 euros ($650,000). According to the BBC report, the French developer was motivated by his love of computers and his desire to become a software developer and not monetary reward.
[Via BBC and Phone Arena]