SMS Scammers - Action at last

The Sydney Morning Herald reported today that The Federal Court has granted interim orders against three companies over allegations of setting up false dating profiles and SMS spamming.

(Lonely hearts tricked into paying for spam: watchdog)

Unfortunately there are some companies which have no ethics which are out their to get your money. The scam is simple in that they obtain your mobile number via a false profile then send you an SMS but if you respond you are signed up for an expensive premium SMS service. (See previous posts for more details)

The proceedings began in January when The Australian Communications and Media Authority started proceedings against three companies Mobilegate Limited, Winning Bid Pty Ltd, Jobspy Pty Ltd and individuals associated with these companies.

( see http://www.acma.gov.au/WEB/STANDARD/pc=PC_311593 ).

It is good to see some action against these companies and I noticed that the safedivert sites are no longer active.

Of course the telecommunications who were providing the premium SMS service were still making money. 

Watch out for them on places such as facebook - with quizs where the only way to get a result is to put in your mobile number - just don't!

SMS Scammers - follow the money

As they say when an offer looks to good beware.

It would seem this is particularly true on gay personal websites with a rise of scammers trying to get your personal information. 

There appears to be an Australian company actively seeking your mobile number so they "trick" you into signing up to premium text services.

They are normally easy to spot and involve setting up fake profiles then after a few messages seeking your mobile number on the grounds they want to contact you. Will be aware they sure do but the only thing they want contact with is your wallet.

The scammers all seem to be connected to an Australian company and you can see a sample of the scam comments with a simple search of google "safedivert.com & scam"

I am suprised they are still in operation. They must continue making money and mobile phone companies seem to be unwilling to close them down while they make money from these premium services.

Fortunately there are a things you can do if you get one of these messages.

1) Record a complaint with your phone company. Request that your phone be blocked from all premium services and ask them why they continue to allow these companies to operate as they are clearly in breach of the premium services code of conduct.

2) Lodge a complaint with the local authority which manages communications - If you within Australia you can report it here While this authority doesn't have jurisdiction outside Australia loding a complaint with them would still be a good idea as this company is based in Australia.

3) Report the profile to the website where you think they got your mobile number from.

You can also check more details on any phone numbers by looking at:

whocallsme.com

I am still suprised there is so little publicity about this type of scam in the gay media and would be really interested in hearing about others caught out by this type of scam.

Lets expose the scum for who they are so drop me a comment below.