SCAMS BULLETIN Host Jay White is a volunteer attorney who provides free legal assistance for low income seniors in San Mateo County, California.

May 15, 2020

SMARTPHONE STALKERWARE SCAM

Cyberstalkers have a new weapon in their efforts to virtually follow their victims — stalkerware.

Online stalking has been defined as the use of the Internet for monitoring and, often, harassing an individual. It involves all kinds of sinister motives, including scamming victims, stealing their identity, blackmailing, bullying, and intimidation.

Using stalkerware, scammers can see all the things you see on your smartphone, hear all the things you hear, pinpoint your physical location, and even remotely control your camera and microphone,” explains Malwarebytes’ Wendy Zamora.

Your calls can be intercepted, eavesdropped on, and recorded — all without your knowledge as the smartphone owner. Information can then be reported back to the scammer.

Stalkerware is available openly. It may be deceptively promoted as software for parental monitoring of teens. Or, for its ability to keep an eye on activities of spouses and other partners.

Getting Around Built-in Security:

Stalkerware programs have been able to avoid built-in security on some smartphones during installation. Scammers  can sometimes skirt the law by appearing to have a legitimate purpose.

State and federal authorities rely on laws that were not originally written to defend against cyberstalking. That makes it difficult to legally tackle the stalkerware criminals.

What to Do:

You could install protective security software on your smartphone. Many smartphone owners have anti-malware software on their PCs but not on their smartphones.

It is not always easy to know if stalkerware apps have been installed on your smartphone. Presence of snooping stalkerware could be signaled by a surge in your phone’s data usage, or if your battery drains quicker than usual.

Guidance in avoiding cyberstalkers is offered at https://scambusters.org/cyberstalking.html.

Attribution: scambusters.org.