According to Frank Engelsman report, fraud investigator on UAGI (Ultrascan Advanced Global Investigations), criminals are willing to pay thousands of Euros for a discontinued Nokia mobile phone. It is Nokia 1100 model, one of Nokia's best-selling devices, which was originally sold for under €100. This phone was released in late 2003 as low-cost phone and aimed at developing markets so Nokia has sold more than 200 million of the 1100 and its successors. The police contacted Ultrascan about six months ago to see if the security company knew why the phones were in demand so the price rides from around €5,000. However, the high prices are only being paid for Nokia 1100 phones that were made in a factory in Bochum, Germany. Those phones contain Nokia software from 2002 that apparently has software problem and can be used to intercept passwords needed to complete an online banking transaction. Cybercriminals have collected thousands of user names and passwords in countries such as Germany and Holland where banks request a TAN (transaction authentication number) code to complete transactions. The Bochum-made 1100 can apparently be re-programmed to use someone else's phone number and on that way, they can be used to intercept the TAN code which banks are sending by SMS (Short Message Service) to a person's mobile phone. While Ultrascan is trying to obtain the affected 1100 model to verify if the attack works as described, the whole story can be found at PCADVISOR web site.
