Student, 19, suspected in creation of cellphone virus

A 19-year-old college student was detained in Shenzhen on suspicion of creating and spreading a cellphone virus that might affect more than 1 million users of the Android cellphone operating system nationwide in just two days, the Shenzhen Police Bureau said.

The male student, a software engineering major at Central South University in Hunan province, told police that he made the virus for fun and to show off his technical skills.

He tested the virus among friends in July, then officially sent them a text message that carried a link to the virus, called “XX Shenqi”, on the evening of July 31, according to a report by Shenzhen Evening News.

When users download the virus, it automatically sends the virus link to all of the contacts, and shares private information with the virus maker.

When the police found Li, who was paying a visit to his parents in Shenzhen during summer vacation, his cellphone had received about 10,800 unread text messages, some of which were about the banking information and other payment system's passwords, police said.

So far, the information has not been misused, said police, who solved the case in just 17 hours.

Li was arrested for being suspected of illegally obtaining the citizen's personal information.