Share with your network!
The UK's Sunday Telegraph yesterday reported that they had been offered more than 1 million UK mobile phone numbers by an Indian Mobile Marketing company, raising concerns that the UK was about to experience a deluge of SMS spam.The agency providing the numbers could provide no evidence that the subscribers had "opted-in" to receive marketing text messages and it is suggested that the list was built using data "leaked" from Indian call centres. The agency also offered to send text messages from India on behalf of the investigators at a very low price. If this is the case then UK subscribers may find themselves receiving highly targeted spam attacks based on data gleaned through unauthorised means, as experienced by Pakistani subscribers during the cricket world cup.
Despite the clear breach of the UK Data Protection Act it is very difficult for any legal action to be taken to prevent SMS spam attacks from these overseas agencies. Mobile Operators can attempt to identify offenders and block their messages but the attackers are often one step ahead and use sophisticated techniques (learnt from years of email spam) to avoid detection. It's often only when subscribers complain that operators realise that an attack has taken place or is underway.
To help combat SMS spam subscribers should always report unwanted messages to their mobile network operator - Particularly if they appear to be targeted based on information obtained by the sender. They should also not reply to the message as this tells the attacker that the number is valid and the spam message was received.