Have you looked carefully at your cell phone bill recently? I just did…and WOW! As an early adopter of a number of technologies, especially with teens in our house, we all have become quite adept at text messages. It didn’t take long once hit with hundreds of dollars in 5¢ text charges to move myself and my teens to unlimited text messages years ago.
The horrific natural tragedies of the last few years from the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004, the devastating Haitian earthquake of 2010, and now the earthquake and tsunami last month in Japan have brought out the humanitarian in most of us. The Red Cross and other organizations have created a system where we are able to donate money through our cell phones, making donating to a cause simple and timely.
However some very unscrupulous types have sniffed out those who in their charity have used cell phones to make donations and have without mine or your approval subscribed hundreds of thousands to premium text messaging plans, costing $5, $10, or more a month. Some of these services are within the United States, others are strewn across the planet, but all are raking in millions of dollars a few bucks at a time.
According to Verizon Wireless, charitable text messages are not the only source of phishing for numbers. If you’ve ever used your cell phone to vote on American Idol or similar shows, your cell number is also at risk for being subscribed to without your knowledge. In some cases, companies are just trying numbers until one accepts a premium text message and BOOM. It is all very reminiscent on the old record club schemes a generation ago. This is a possible precursor to issues sure to arise as we move closer to using your cell phone for paying for items in stores and vending machines…people with sniffers grabbing numbers and using them maliciously.
These cases are starting wind themselves through the court systems, but until the FCC and the mobile carriers get serious about this issue, you could be paying for one or more of these premium text messaging services you never signed up for without your knowledge. Part of the problem is that the mobile carriers make as much as 30% commission, so currently they have very little incentive to put a stop to this sort of thing.
Two pieces of advice regarding this issue.
1) Check your cell phone bill thouroughly and if you find a premium text messaging service you did not sign up for, call you mobile provider and have it removed.
2) Block premium text messaging wherever possible to prevent others from signing your phone up.
