CIB urges users to check iPhone settings profiles for theft trojans
The Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) is urging users to check setting on their iPhone smartphones for possible “trojans” that may be controlled remotely to steal from their bank accounts.
The CIB targeted the warning to those iPhone users who have installed apps from outside Apple’s App Store, as such apps are likely to be trojans embedded within setting profiles, with scammers later seizing control of the handhelds remotely.
The CIB said iPhone users may have been tricked to install suspicious apps via bogus websites, SMS messages and links to the malicious malware.
The CIB suggests that iPhone users check for suspicious setting profiles by tapping “Settings” and then choose “General” followed by “VPN & Device Management”.
If users find suspicious configuration profiles that have been added to the factory setting, they should remove them by tapping the profile and selecting the “Remove Profile” option.
The CIB is basing its warning on information from 9arm, a computer engineer who is also a YouTuber with over 995,000 followers, and whose Facebook page has more than 570,000 followers.
When Thai media recently reported stories from victims whose bank accounts were stolen after merely using a modified power charging cable or making a phone call to a call centre gang, 9arm repeatedly reached out to explain that it was impossible for any scammer to do so.
The engineer explained that the scammers had to first trick smartphone users to install their remote control malware. The scammers often waited for the user to go to sleep before they would trigger the malware to take control of the phone and open mobile banking apps to steal from their victim’s accounts.
