Cell Phone Spam

June 25, 2008

What's more annoying that spam clogging your inbox? Try unwanted text messages on your cell phone that could cost you up to $.20 a message.

It happened to Virginia Doetsch. "The spam text messaging became so invasive," Doetsch says. "I really can't repeat the words, just things that were inappropriate for me to see, for my children to see, for anybody to see really."

This year, Americans will receive an estimated 1.5 billion unwanted cell phone spam messages, twice as much as in 2006.

(SOT) "People don't realize they could unknowingly be inviting spam when they download ringtones, games, and other stuff from vendors they don't know or trust," says Consumer Reports Mike Gikas.

Cell phone users are protected from spam by the Can-Spam Act, which prohibits sending commercial messages to cell phones without "express prior authorization." But Gikas says, the law has a lot of loopholes.

"For example when you sign up for service, even from your own vendor, you're also giving them permission to send you messages as well as their partners."

Without better protection, what can you do to minimize cell phone spam and the potential cost? Consumer Reports says call your carrier right away. You're more likely to have charges for messages waived before they pile up. And you can block spam at the source.

"You can go to your cell account online, access preferences for text messaging and e-mail, and block text messages from internet based accounts. Of course, you can still get the text messages you want from family and friends when they use their cell phones."

To block cell phone spam, you can also register your phone number with the National Do Not Call Registry. And you should know, you can file a complaint about cell phone spam with FCC. Check out both websites through our link section above.

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