Phone Virus ?

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Michael Chare - 28 Jan 2008 21:09 GMT

I received an unsolicited text message from a +254 number (Kenya) with a web
link to a site that began http://w03.v762.net/

Is this likely to be a phone virus or someother malware? - first time that I
have come across such a problem!

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Michael Chare

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Colin Wilson - 28 Jan 2008 21:44 GMT

> Is this likely to be a phone virus or someother malware? - first time that I
> have come across such a problem!

ISTR some Symbian devices were prone to some sort of hack, but I could
be completely mistaken.

The safe answer of course, is to delete it.

The other thing to bear in mind is that with a "link" of that sort, it
might be a tracking link (although the "ID" component in this is
unusually short), and may identify a phone number as (a) working, and
(b) having a "curious" owner - if you happened to make the mistake and
look at it...

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Michael Chare - 29 Jan 2008 01:04 GMT

>> Is this likely to be a phone virus or someother malware? - first time
>> that I
[quoted text clipped - 10 lines]
> (b) having a "curious" owner - if you happened to make the mistake and
> look at it...

It is a Symbian phone, what is odd is that I have received the email so soon
after acquiring the phone, and about 1 day after I started using the Virgin
GPRS web facility.
I have had the sim card for some years in another phone (Nokia 3410).

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Michael Chare

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Colin Wilson - 29 Jan 2008 20:59 GMT

> It is a Symbian phone, what is odd is that I have received the email so soon
> after acquiring the phone, and about 1 day after I started using the Virgin
> GPRS web facility.
> I have had the sim card for some years in another phone (Nokia 3410).

I was right in that viruses have been targetting Symbian btw, just did
a quick search...

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/05/21/symbian_trojan/

...there were a couple of other virus related links along the same
lines too...

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rja.carnegie@excite.com - 03 Feb 2008 03:29 GMT

> > Is this likely to be a phone virus or someother malware? - first time that I
> > have come across such a problem!
[quoted text clipped - 9 lines]
> (b) having a "curious" owner - if you happened to make the mistake and
> look at it...

And whatever happened to text message spam, anyway? I got dozens over
the first year of owning a pay-as-you-go phone, and I don't think they
got my number, they presumably sent them out at random. they told me
to call the national or premium rate for this, that, the other
reason... a romantic voicemail, a family emergency... lately, none of
that.

And I suppose a scam doesn't necessarily have to make business sense -
these aren't necessarily run by smart people. However, they may be
run by vicious leg-breaking or drive-by-shooting thugs, or by people
who can get them. Drive-bys don't worry me much, I live in a cul-de-
sac.

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