Did you put your old Nokia junker up on Ebay recently and then get a bid at around €25,000? If you did it is most likely that the phone you were trying to get rid of your Nokia 1100.

This elderly Nokia model has been greatly sought after recently for nefarious reasons. Allegedly Romanian and Russian cybergangs are going to great lengths to obtain these phones because a reported weakness in the software which makes the phone vulnerable to hack. The hack allows the user to duplicate another number and receive all information coming into the genuine phone without anyone being the wiser.

The Dutch firm Ultrascan Advanced Global Investigations has made claims that with this technology it is possible to set up the phone to aid in making fraudulent bank transfers. As some banks in Europe now use SMS messages to assist with transfers of funds and also secret codes the phone could be very valuable in setting up bogus transactions.

Nokia has claimed that there is no weakness in the design of the phone that would allow these things to happen and testing is still inconclusive. According to the rumor mill the only version of this device that is being sought however is the line which was manufactured in Bochum, Germany.

Whatever anyone is saying and how useful the phone may be is still yet to be determined as there hasn’t been much confirmed info. However it still begs the questions of why can someone pull in a few grand for a low level Nokia when no one will touch my MuchMusic branded Motorola phone?

[Via PC World]