Update | Fake Occupy Central app targets activists’ smartphones with spyware

A fraudulent smartphone app claiming to coordinate the Occupy Central pro-democracy movement has circulated online, a group of programmers said on Wednesday.

The spyware is disguised as an application for Android smartphones or tablets, Code4HK, a group of coders trying to improve government transparency in Hong Kong, said.

Activists first received a link to the application in messages from a phone number unknown to them on Tuesday. “Check out this Android app designed by Code4HK for the coordination of Occupy Central!” the message read.

Lau Sau-yin, a spokeswoman for Occupy Central, said the organisation had nothing to do with the spyware. Code4HK also said that none of its members developed or distributed the application. “None of the Code4HK community has done any application on [Occupy Central] at the moment nor sent the message,” the statement read.

The number that shared the software could not be reached on Wednesday.