Apps that pay: Beware of scams!

We've all been searching through an app market and seen an app that claims they will pay you to unlock your phone, or pay you just for installing. Most of you have probably considered, if not downloaded them, and here's why that was a bad idea.

Your phone is a treasure trove of personal data. We enter our passwords to accounts on it, may pay bills using them, access our bank's mobile app to look at account activity, and get on social media and email. Our phones are basically the keys to our personal life.

Normally that data is secure because we have a lock screen or a password that keeps people from getting into our private data if our phones are lost or stolen. In the case of these apps, you've unlocked the door and invited them in. Every time you unlock your phone they have access to personal information.

I'm not saying that these apps are committing identity theft; in most cases the information they collect isn't that vital. It may be the websites you visit, or your current location, or a password you used to get into... ok, yeah, it's bad. It's really bad.

It's your decision whether or not you download an app like this; if you never log into anything personal EVER then you're probably okay. I just can't stand the thought of someone taking my personal information and selling it (like my list of contacts to spam callers) in exchange for a few pennies.