Back in the 2000s, a common form of fraud that was conducted using technological means was WAP fraud. WAP basically refers to Wireless Application Protocol, and before the rise of smartphone and various online payment platforms it was one of the only ways in which people could end up paying for content that they would access through their phones. Things like premium ringtones and mobile games were popular even before smartphones came around, and WAP billing has been used since then as a mode of payment that would charge you directly to your card.
WAP fraud involves circumventing these payment protocols and creating a mechanism by which payments can be intercepted and money can be withdrawn from accounts by malicious actors that might even have gained access to your card details and the like. While the rise of the smartphone has led to a decline in WAP fraud cases, they have made a pretty resounding return thanks to a number of malicious actors that have brought about a new form of malware which is being referred to as WAPDropper.
The way this malware works is that it infects your phone and then subscribes you to various premium numbers and the like. This would make it so that you would get billed for all of these numbers as well as the various extra services that are provided to the people that use these numbers in the first place. This can lead to a really high bill that people would need to pay, thereby resulting in quite a bit of financial loss that would be truly difficult for them to eventually end up dealing with.
The truly sinister aspect of this malware is that no one really knows if the people that offer these supposedly premium numbers are in on the fraud that is currently happening. Either way, the malicious actors responsible for the creation of this malware have certainly managed to make quite a bit of money, something that might spur the rise of even more malware that would attempt to commit WAP fraud in some way, shape or form.
WAP fraud involves circumventing these payment protocols and creating a mechanism by which payments can be intercepted and money can be withdrawn from accounts by malicious actors that might even have gained access to your card details and the like. While the rise of the smartphone has led to a decline in WAP fraud cases, they have made a pretty resounding return thanks to a number of malicious actors that have brought about a new form of malware which is being referred to as WAPDropper.
The way this malware works is that it infects your phone and then subscribes you to various premium numbers and the like. This would make it so that you would get billed for all of these numbers as well as the various extra services that are provided to the people that use these numbers in the first place. This can lead to a really high bill that people would need to pay, thereby resulting in quite a bit of financial loss that would be truly difficult for them to eventually end up dealing with.
The truly sinister aspect of this malware is that no one really knows if the people that offer these supposedly premium numbers are in on the fraud that is currently happening. Either way, the malicious actors responsible for the creation of this malware have certainly managed to make quite a bit of money, something that might spur the rise of even more malware that would attempt to commit WAP fraud in some way, shape or form.
