Among those who go online with their smartphones, 68.6 percent received spam text messages during the first half of 2013, 57.2 percent received harassing phone calls or text messages and 33.2 percent encountered malware, said a report published last September by the China Internet Network Information Center.

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Last year, Chinese mobile payment users reached 125 million, rising 126 percent from 2012, said Qu Xiaodong, vice-president of Qihoo 360 Technology Co Ltd, a provider of Internet and mobile security products.

The booming popularity of mobile payments also brought huge security challenges such as attacks by Trojan horse viruses via the latest technologies.

The malware, disguised as various apps, lured users to install it, said Qu, who said users should download only from reputable app stores.

Other threats involving mobile payments include text message scams.

According to the CNNIC report, 30 percent of the mobile Internet users have never installed network security software on their smartphones. Many people think they don't need it because they have never encountered a security incident. Some are worried that the running speed of their phones will slow down after they install security software.

"The users should be more aware of the potential risks of exposing their personal information," said Qu of Qihoo 360 Technology. "They should install network security software that can tell which apps are collecting sensitive personal information by reading their text messages, call logs and phonebooks or using GPS to track their positions."

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