<p>With smart phones predicted to outsell PCs in 2011, the survey, commissioned by mobile security firm AdaptiveMobile, indicates that traditional spam e-mail successfully persuades fewer than one in a million users to visit the site it is advertising. <br /><br />But so-called “conversion rates” of mobile spam are often higher than one percent and a single SMS text message spam attack can generate more than $10 million in just three days, reports the Telegraph. <br /><br />The types of scam the firm found included sophisticated attacks that exploit smart phone capabilities to connect to the internet - the results included “click fraud” on ads or mobile viruses. <br /><br />Simpler scams included SMS messages claiming the recipient had won a prize and fooling them into replying via a premium rate call or text. <br /><br />“With spammers finding ways of avoiding the cost of sending bulk SMS, the traditional barrier to receiving spam on mobiles has been removed,” said Simeon Coney, vice-president of business development at AdaptiveMobile. <br /><br />“A mobile phone is a very personal device and people are intrinsically more trusting of communications via their handset than content in their e-mail inboxes. <br /><br />"While the mobile operators are fighting the criminals at a network level, users too need to play their part if they’re to stay safe in an increasingly mobile world.”</p>
<p>With smart phones predicted to outsell PCs in 2011, the survey, commissioned by mobile security firm AdaptiveMobile, indicates that traditional spam e-mail successfully persuades fewer than one in a million users to visit the site it is advertising. <br /><br />But so-called “conversion rates” of mobile spam are often higher than one percent and a single SMS text message spam attack can generate more than $10 million in just three days, reports the Telegraph. <br /><br />The types of scam the firm found included sophisticated attacks that exploit smart phone capabilities to connect to the internet - the results included “click fraud” on ads or mobile viruses. <br /><br />Simpler scams included SMS messages claiming the recipient had won a prize and fooling them into replying via a premium rate call or text. <br /><br />“With spammers finding ways of avoiding the cost of sending bulk SMS, the traditional barrier to receiving spam on mobiles has been removed,” said Simeon Coney, vice-president of business development at AdaptiveMobile. <br /><br />“A mobile phone is a very personal device and people are intrinsically more trusting of communications via their handset than content in their e-mail inboxes. <br /><br />"While the mobile operators are fighting the criminals at a network level, users too need to play their part if they’re to stay safe in an increasingly mobile world.”</p>