There is a hidden danger to the snazzy smartphones that have become a growing part of people's lives: the alarming spread of mobile malware that can result in users being charged for services they haven't used.

A man surnamed Liu, who traded in his old phone in mid-July, found that the account for his new handset had been continually charged since the purchase, even though he had barely used it to access the Internet, Dalian Peninsula Morning Post reported in late July.

Three days after he got the new phone, Liu's mobile phone account was already 200 yuan ($31.36) in debt, mainly as a result of data traffic charges.

Liu eventually found out it was software that had been installed on his new phone that led to the malicious charges.

Liu's experience might well strike a chord with the nation's gigantic population of smartphone users.

The number of people using mobile phones to access the Internet rose to 388 million during the first six months, climbing for the first time above those using desktop computers to surf the Web, which totaled 380 million in the first half, according to figures from a report released in mid-July by the China Internet Networks Information Center (CNNIC).

As the boom in China's mobile Internet sector continues, malicious software seems set to pose a growing risk.

Emerging black hole

In terms of the global threat of mobile phone malicious software, the Chinese market has been hit particularly hard, according to the latest report on global mobile security by NQ Mobile Inc, a Beijing-based provider of mobile anti-virus services.

Various kinds of malware affected a total of 12.83 million handsets worldwide during the first half of this year, 25.7 percent of which were in the Chinese mainland, making it the world's most affected region, said the report.

Among the various forms of malware, fee deduction software is probably the most dangerous for users in terms of economic losses.

This kind of software has affected 4.89 million handsets worldwide in the first half of 2012, 3.87 million of which were in the Chinese mainland, according to the report.

"The rampancy of fee deduction software is hardly a new phenomenon, but it has become especially prominent in recent years, driven by the mobile Internet boom that has greatly pushed up smartphone penetration rates across the nation," Shi Wenyong, co-founder and chief operating officer of NQ Mobile, told the Global Times in an interview Monday.

Growing security problem

"The rising popularity of Google's Android operating system, which offers an open development environment for the engagement of any third party, has proved to be a hotbed for various greedy viruses in the mobile virtual world," Shi noted.

Nearly 80 percent of the malicious software was found to be running on the Android platform, said the report.

It's a particularly worrying finding, given the growing dominance in China of smartphones using the Android system. The market share of Android-powered smartphones hit 76.7 percent during the first quarter of the year, according to data from Beijing-based market research firm Analysys International.

Meanwhile, those choosing other mobile systems, such as Apple's iOS, might be less alert to the risks although some iOS users have been affected by fee deduction malware, industry analysts warned.

"Apple's iOS system is rather closed, and there are generally strict checks before an app becomes available for it, but hacked iPhones and iPads may be at risk from malware," Tang Wei, an Internet security expert at Beijing Rising Information Technology Co, a major Internet security company, told the Global Times.

"Microsoft's Windows Mobile system, which remains far less influential than Android and iOS, also appears to be less of a lure for malware," Tang said.

Different interests

Though it is hard to say how big the market for fee deduction software is in terms of business revenues, it undoubtedly involves a number of different interests.

When handset users suffer from malicious phone charges, it is mostly due to the pre-installation of applications that are bundled with malicious code, or intentional installation of such malware on the phones, according to Tang.

Some mobile phone distributors have engaged in reaping benefits from the grey area, Tang disclosed, without specifying the distributors.

"Some mobile phone vendors cooperate with providers of malicious fee deduction software, inserting the software into the phones before consumers buy them. They can earn a few yuan per handset from the dirty deal," Tang noted.

"The telecom operators, app sales outlets and handset manufacturers have all endeavored to minimize the impact of the malware, but the nation's complex environment for the emerging mobile Internet industry makes it unrealistic to expect a quick resolution of the problem," Shi also said.

Meanwhile, the malware problem has provided a significant boost for the nation's market for mobile security services.

By the end of the first half of this year, the country's number of active users of mobile security software hit 180 million. Qihoo 360 Technology Co led the way with a market share of roughly 70 percent, according to a research report from Beijing-based CCID Consulting.

Shi, COO of NQ Mobile, one of the nearest rivals to Qihoo 360 in the nation's mobile security service arena, said the future market prospects are good.

"Globally, we expect a yearly growth of 20-30 million subscribers to our mobile security software, more than half of which will come from the mainland market," he predicted. And as the mobile security service sector grows stronger, it can also reduce users' fears over threats from malicious software, he said.