[IP] New mobile phone scam
Delivered-To: dfarber+@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Wed, 18 Feb 2004 09:56:06 +0000
From: Brian Randell <Brian.Randell@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: New mobile phone scam
X-Sender: nbr@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
To: dave@xxxxxxxxxx
Hi Dave:
Here is an article from today's (UK) Guardian newspaper, about a mobile
phone scam they claim to have uncovered. If it is indeed new, you might
want to send this to IP.
cheers
Brian
New mobile phone scam promises prizes but could cost a small fortune
Watchdog acts after Guardian investigation exposes calls con
Audrey Gillan
Wednesday February 18, 2004
The Guardian
Mobile phone users are facing the biggest spam nuisance to date as
computers bombard thousands of phones with a new scam called "missed call
marketing", the Guardian can reveal.
Companies operating the scheme are facing a crackdown by the government
regulator, the Independent Committee for the Supervision of Telephone
Information Services (ICSTIS), which said missed call marketing was, in
its view, "completely illegal". It has now suspended the numbers operated
by one company and launched an investigation after the Guardian passed on
details of the ruse.
Experts predict that the con could surpass the cost and inconvenience
caused by conventional spam text messages, which have doubled to 2bn in
two years, but which have now become too widely known by the public after
a previous crackdown by the regulator.
The latest scheme promises a cash prize of £1,000 which rarely
materialises but costs each unwitting victim about £15 in premium rate
phone bills
It uses computer-generated calls to ring target phones just once so that a
number is left behind as a missed call. When users ring the number to find
out who has been calling them, they are answered by someone saying
"customer care" then the voice goes into the "congratulations" spiel. The
caller is then referred to a premium rate number where they can find out
more details of their "fantastic prize". At no time are they voluntarily
told how much this will cost them but a call to the number given to the
Guardian lasted 11 minutes at a cost of £1.50 a minute.
Last year, the Advertising Standards Authority ruled that telephone
companies must seek the permission of the phone user before bombarding
them with marketing material. Under a European commission directive
brought into force last year, unsolicited marketing material can only be
sent electronically if the receiver has previously notified their consent.
...
Full story at:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/mobile/article/0,2763,1150247,00.html
--
School of Computing Science, University of Newcastle, Newcastle upon Tyne,
NE1 7RU, UK
EMAIL = Brian.Randell@xxxxxxxxx PHONE = +44 191 222 7923
FAX = +44 191 222 8232 URL = http://www.cs.ncl.ac.uk/~brian.randell/
-------------------------------------
You are subscribed as roessler@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
To manage your subscription, go to
http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip
Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/