Hackers are paying less than ten pounds to hit mobile users with malware, a new report suggests.
Security firm Trend Micro claims it has discovered that Chinese, Russian and Brazilian cyber criminals are buying malware kits from the dark net for as little as £9.70 to target mobile phones with spam and viruses.
Other illegal services, such as subscribing people to receive messages from premium-rate phone numbers, can cost more than £21,400.
Trend Micro reports that the hackers use malicious apps that subscribe to premium-rate services, then delete the confirmation text that service sends to the mobile phone, leaving no trace that the user is now signed up to an expensive service.
The company added that hackers also use GSM modems, which are sold at a price of £254 and which can send and receive texts, to launch spam campaigns and deliver about 9,600 text messages per hour, including advertising products and luring users to visit malicious sites.
In addition, the report also added that SMS forwarders, which are currently compatible with Android phones, are used to pinch authentication or verification codes delivered via text messages.
The report said that the barriers to launching cybercriminal operations are less in number than ever.
"Toolkits are becoming more available and cheaper; some are even offered free of charge," report added.
"Cybercriminals are also making use of the ‘deep web’ to sell products and services outside the indexed or searchable world wide web, making their online shops harder for law enforcement to find and take down."
Users of Apple devices are also being targeted via iMessage spammers, by purchasing 1,000 spam services for just £9.60.
App-ranking boost services, which have also been operating on the mobile underground, are used to support a malicious application by developing several fake accounts to download and write better user reviews.
