Android users deal with dodgy ‘Trojan virus’ application

A number of sites are reporting on a supposed ‘Trojan virus’ currently ‘infecting’ Android handsets, and draining your bank balance by sending out text messages to premium rate numbers.

An apparently benign media player app, which is installed as a typical APK file, actually carries some crude code that makes your Android phone text premium rate numbers and rinse your credit. The program will then crash, and refuse to run again.

Now that the hysteria has calmed down, it should be noted that the dodgy app is being installed willingly by users, it wasn’t found in the Android Marketplace, and the user has to check “allow non-marketplace installs”, which comes with some hefty warnings about the consequences.

The Android’s rapid increase in popularity in sales is making the Google helmed operating system become a target for cyber hackers. The device has seen other forms of spyware since 2009, but while text message-based scams have hit other phones, this the first of its kind on Android devices.