BILLIONS of iPhone and Android owners are being warned over a “bank raiding” Wi-Fi trick – but this new tool could save you.

Scammers are attempting to steal private and sensitive data from people as they connect to public hotspots.

Scammers are attempting to steal people's information through Wi-Fi connections

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Scammers are attempting to steal people’s information through Wi-Fi connectionsCredit: Alamy

Smartphone users accessing Wi-Fi in supermarkets, cafes, or shopping centres sometimes blindly accept conditions without reading them.

And now sneaky crooks are creating fake access points, impersonating real ones, to steal information.

The scam works when a user connects – leaving their devices open for people to trawl through.

With the threat becoming prevalent, cyber security researchers have now released a new tool to prevent the attack.

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Named Snappy, the software can help detect dummy or rogue Wi-Fi connections.

Tom Neaves developed the program which would tell phone users whether the network they were on was legit or not.

The scanner tool generates matches, which are trustworthy, and mismatches, which aren’t.

It was incorporated into a Python script called Snappy that was published here for people to access for free.

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Android device owners can use Pydroid, QPython, or Termux to run the script.

iOS users can choose between Pythonista, Carnets, and Juno.

It should also be easily accessible on laptops.

This post first appeared on Thesun.co.uk

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