Scammers Earning Money by Peddling Nonexistent Cell Snooping Software

Cellphones can reveal a lot about a person.

So it’s no surprise that some may be willing to browse through the text message or email inbox tied to the cellphone of their employees or spouses in hopes of curbing that paranoid feeling that they’re up to no good.

Those who don’t have the gall to personally invade someone else’s mobile privacy may turn to cellphone-targeting spyware built specifically to do the work for them. To no surprise, there’s a good chance that participating in such dishonest activities may backfire on you.

For instance, SMS Privato Spy is advertised an application that will allegedly grant access to the text messaging history, call logs, GPS history, and audio control of the smartphone that you plant it on.

Naturally, all of that functionality comes with a hefty price – the cheapest package available is $50 and that only grants you a month’s worth of spying on a single phone. If you’re serious about your snooping, you can opt for a pricey $125 package that offers unlimited eavesdropping on as many phones as you want for a year.

Karma will instantly turn around and bite anyone who plans on buying SMS Privato Spy, though. According to Peter Coogan at Symantec,

“The thing is there is no such product as SMS Privato Spy.”

Wannabe snoopers that go through the process of ordering SMS Privato Spy will get a voucher pin code from the online payment site, PaySafeCard, that they will then turn around and use in order to register and purchase SMS Privato Spy off the website.

Despite a large green checkmark and message saying your order is being processed being displayed upon a completed checkout, Coogan states, “No further contact is made with the victim and the scammers take the unprocessed payment voucher pin code and use it for their own purposes.”

Apparently the funds have been used to buy merchandise from an online gaming site.  As explained by Coogan in his post,

“The game in question is a hugely popular online game and the fraudsters may have being purchasing points that are used as an in game currency.  Although NOT condoned by the gaming company, there is an online black market where gamers can buy and sell these points for real money.  This may have been the intention of the fraudsters in an attempt to try and launder their ill-gotten, monetary gains.”

This should serve as a reminder that you should always exercise caution and research the product you’re interested in when purchasing goods online.

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Photo Credit: Digitpedia