Mobile phone users are being bombarded with up to four million spam text messages a day, according to a British survey. The figures are alarming as it has shown an increase that is greater than the number of spam emails received. With consumers targeted by four million unwanted texts a day, it is only a matter of time before text messages will be full of junk SMS messages. Perhaps unsurprisingly, these spam text messages are not limited to users of fancy phones along, even the simplest mobile phones are being targeted. Take for example, the following message which has been sent to my $5 mobile phone time and time again:
“Free Msg: Our records indicate you may be entitled to £3350 for the accident you had. To apply free reply CLAIM to this message. To opt out text STOP.“
Imagine the surprise on my face the first time I got this message. I didn’t have to Google ‘how to identify spam text messages’ to know that it was an obvious spam text. Firstly, it was unsolicited, the sender’s number was not registered on my phone and fortunately I had not been involved in any accidents.
While it may not be a surprise that smart-phones are being targeted with spam messages, one could have been forgiven for thinking that a simple mobile phones whose only functions include sending/receiving text messages and making/receiving telephone calls would also be targeted. All that has changed now.
Previous experiences with spam emails before they became common has taught us that quite a lot of innocent people fall victims to scams such as these in the early days, if not properly educated. On a similar note, one can only imagine that if nothing is done about this latest trend in terms of educating mobile and smart-phone users about the reality and dangers of spam text messages, a lot more people will end up becoming victims of the growing mobile spam scams. Perhaps it won’t be long before anti-virus and spam filtering programs will be vigorously advertised for mobile phones too.
Talking Point
Have you ever been a victim of a mobile phone scam?
6 Comments
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It
June 11, 2011 at 1:55 pm
A mobile phone, cell phone or hand phone is an electronic device used to make mobile telephone calls across a wide geographic area, served by many public .and we agree with you.
bili osi
June 12, 2011 at 11:02 am
Wow, I never thought about it, it really could be something very disturbing. It’s not like a computer spam, here it beeps on your phone every minute, wow it can really be annoying to me.
I hope that this solution would be to some that faster 🙂
SSMS
June 16, 2011 at 12:29 pm
One can only imagine that if nothing is done about this latest trend in terms of educating mobile and smart-phone users about the reality and dangers of spam text messages, a lot more people will end up becoming victims of the growing mobile spam scams.
sms
June 22, 2011 at 2:22 pm
One can only imagine that if nothing is done about this latest trend in terms of educating mobile and smart-phone users about the reality and dangers of spam text messages, a lot more people will end up becoming victims of the growing mobile spam scams.
Rajan
June 27, 2011 at 10:38 am
Hello……. i read this page and i think its very informative really i was searching for this type page to gain more knowledge… thanks a lot……
sms spam
June 29, 2011 at 12:40 pm
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