[LINK] mobile phone spam

[Ivan Trundle]

On 15/06/2008, at 10:50 AM, Fred Pilcher wrote:

> Richard Chirgwin wrote:
>> Scammer >> spam SMS to customer: "Reply for free ringtones! (etc)"*
>> Customer >> hits reply, gets free ringtone*
>> Scammer treats reply as "Yes I want to subscribe to your free
>> ringtones*" (See our Web page for terms, conditions, and prices)
>> Scammer sends premium SMSs to subscribers and charges.
>
> That was my assumption too, but no, it doesn't work like that. It
> doesn't require any action on the receiver's part. Once you've  
> received
> the message, whether you open it or not, the money starts disappearing
> from your account.
>
> The only way to stop it is to text STOP, in caps, as a reply.

(Devil's advocate) Is there a better way?

Surely, if someone sends a message to a business of this nature, then  
they are asking for a business transaction to take place. The  
regulatory bodies (ACCC etc) have demanded that businesses include the  
fine print to show what the receiver is liable for.

I've a teenage daughter, too - but we've both investigated this, and  
my daughter, like many of her cohort, are well-versed on the traps  
here (possibly more than we are).

The problem here is that it should be abundantly clear that 99% of  
these 'services' are all based on a *subscription* model (granted,  
some businesses are not), and that action is required by the receiver  
to stop the subscription.

What would work better than STOP?

iT