Barclays is warning Britons against scams involving mobile malware that criminals are sneaking onto devices to steal from people.

According to Barclays, Mobile malware is harmful software that can spy on and control people’s mobile devices. It can steal information, change device settings and access people’s apps, including banking apps.

A statement from Barclays reads: “Criminals often sneak malware onto your device using apps they’ve made. They make one that seems useful, like a PDF reader or file manager, and add it to a genuine app store.

“When you install it, it works as normal. Weeks or months later, the app says it needs an update. The update contains malware that installs itself without you realising.

“Harmful apps often request access to your device’s accessibility services. This gives them full access to your phone.”

With this level of access, Barclays said the fraudsters can even set people’s phones to open malware when they select their banking app, so they get a fake login screen that will “steal your login information”.

Barclays then shared five tips people can use to protect themselves against mobile malware, which include:

• Be suspicious if an app asks for accessibility permissions
• Always install the latest security updates for a device
• If a text or email has a link to an app that isn’t recognised, don’t download it
• Use two-factor authentication to keep important apps safe
• Install anti-virus software on all devices and research what’s available before choosing one
• If a person’s device is acting strangely, like freezing or restarting, check the bank account and follow the advice on GOV.UK on how to recover an infected device.

A recent survey has revealed that 41 percent of Gen Z Britins (age 16 to 26) have fallen victim to a scam, a figure three times higher than Baby Boomers (13 percent), their parents and grandparents’ generation (age 59 to 77).

The research, conducted by Virgin Media O2, found that despite having grown up online, Gen Z is the generation most susceptible to a scam, more so than Millennials (28 percent), Gen X and the Silent Generation (both at 18 percent).

Alongside falling victim themselves, 63 oercent of Gen Z respondents personally know someone who has been conned, again more than twice as high as that reported by Baby Boomers (28 percent).

However, despite being the most likely group to be scammed, 63 percent of Gen Z Britons believe they can easily spot them and say they can avoid falling foul. And whilst 69 percent of Baby Boomers believe that anyone could fall for a scam, only 33 percent of Gen Z respondents shared this belief, with the younger generation six times more likely to agree that ‘idiots fall for a scam’ compared to their parents.

With a quarter of Britons hearing more about scams now than in previous years, Virgin Media O2 is urging the public to stay vigilant.

Aside from apps, Britons can report dodgy calls and texts by forwarding them to 7726 – which spells ‘SPAM’ on an alphanumeric phone keypad – on any network.

Reporting scam texts and calls helps Virgin Media O2 and other telecom companies to both block the mobile numbers used by fraudsters and prevent or shut down similar scams faster in future.

According to Virgin Media O2, it has blocked more than 84 million texts in 2023, in part thanks to reports to 7726.