Bangalore: Storm8, the developer of a series of well-known iPhone games has been accused of secretly collecting users' phone numbers. A lawsuit lodged in the U.S. says the firm has been deliberately spying on gamers.

iPhone user Michael Turner of Washington has filed a complaint against Storm8 and is encouraging other U.S. iPhone users to join him. Storm8 claims to have sold 20 million applications and has seven games in the iTunes App Store Top 100. Its titles include iMobsters and Vampires Live.

Turner's complaint suggests Storm8 used concealed code to bypass the iPhone's security. The complaint says, "Storm8 makes use of the 'backdoor' method to access, collect, and transmit the wireless phone numbers of iPhones on which its games are installed." Storm8 has been accused of spying on its users in the past. Earlier this year, SFGate Writer Yobi Benjamin revealed the information he believed Storm8 was taking from his iPhone.

Storm8 has acknowledged that it has collected users' phones numbers, but puts the blame on "a bug that has been fixed." Turner's lawyers do not accept that explanation, "Storm8's characterizations of its practice of harvesting phone number as a 'bug' and an 'oversight' are false," they said.