The U.S. prosecutors indicted the CEO of company responsible for marketing a mobile spy app, StealthGenie, that can secretly spy on calls, texts, and other activities on smartphones.
The Justice Department indicted the CEO of a software company, InvoCode, developers of the StealthGenie app, for conspiracy and sale of an illicit technology designed to spy on smartphones.
Hammad Akbar, a 31-year-old of Pakistani origin, was arrested by the feds in Los Angeles on Saturday and indicted by U.S. prosecutors on criminal charges Monday, according to a copy of the complaint obtained by ARS Technica.
StealthGenie mobile app is capable of intercepting calls, pictures, texts or other communications between smartphones. The app is 100 percent untraceable and is marketed to people who want to spy on rivals, partners and cheating spouses. According to the indictment, the app can intercept voice calls, monitor conversations taking place near mobile phones, access emails, texts, photos, videos and calendars.
"Selling spyware is not just reprehensible, it's a crime," Assistant Attorney General Leslie Caldwell of the Justice Department's Criminal Division said in a press statement on Monday. "Apps like StealthGenie are expressly designed for use by stalkers and domestic abusers who want to know every detail of a victim's personal life--all without the victim's knowledge."
The installation of the app is a simple process, which can be done in a matter of few minutes on the device that has to be monitored. StealthGenie is a paid app with subscriptions starting at $8 a month for the Basic package, $13 a month for Gold subscription and $16 per month for the Platinum package. Since the website remains inaccessible, a cached webpage of the app advertisement shows the details of the package.
Akbar advertised the mobile spy app using a computer server located at an Amazon Web Services (AWS) data center in Virginia, which has been disabled by the FBI after a restraining order was issued by a federal judge on Friday, according to CNET. The app runs on all major platforms, including Google's Android, Apple's iOS and on BlackBerry OS.
