Over the past few months, I have been receiving unsolicited text messages on my mobile phone. These messages invite you to subscribe to the latest updates in phone-based services such as ringtones, wallpapers and mms videos. They are becoming a bloody nuisance.
What really pisses me off are those messages that tempt you to access vulgar content. The following is one such sms I received yesterday :
Jikalau anda boleh tahan nikmat video aksi hebatku, sila tulis ON Gal dan htr ke 32xxx. Lebih 100 koleksi video clip hebat menunggu anda! Pdftrn FREE.
The message came from a 013 mobile number. I placed a call to that number but there was a continuous ringing tone until the voice mailbox was reached. Nobody picked up. I placed a terse message of my own in the mailbox. Damn you creeps.
What sort of people do this kind of work, I wonder? How did they get my mobile number? Are these the same sort of people in those get-rich-quick schemes that use mass mailing systems?
I called my telco to complain but they could only offer advice on how to block the incoming mobile numbers. But these creeps use different numbers for different messages, I cannot be doing the blocking procedure everytime.
For those readers out there who have received similar unsolicited text messages, do NOT be fooled by the free registration blurb. The moment you subscribe, they will charge you a weekly fee which would be automatically charged to your phone bill or automatically deducted from your prepaid credit, whether you actually download their services or not. In my mind, that's a real sleazy trick.
12 comments:
hey, I got that message too!
but I think, I registered, coz its free! hehehe....
i received a lot, always delete without much thought.
Tu hotlink also another useless telco. keep on sending useless offer. time to have them change or we buang them!
haha.. but is impossible ,right ?
bro, saya pon kerap terima. semua nya free tp tgk video lucah la. sori, tk minat la. infact i called maxis n tanyer camner dorang leh dpt no kite, sdgkn it is a private number. tiada jawapan yg memuaskn. klu nk wat official complaint mesti ader repot polis. oh!!! lgk la tk kuasa nk wat ehehhe...so, delete je la bro, apo laei yg dpt di buat...orak eneng... ehehe
Verse,
You're kidding me, right? So, dah tengok video panas tu, heheheh.
Jarod,
I think semua telco sama je. I'm both on Maxis and Celcom. Dua-dua suka hantar sms promo. But that's okay by me. It's those third party promoters that bugs me.
Hanitha,
I think these creeps ada master program yang detect nombor kita at random. Otherwise, it's the telcos yang pakat dgn diaorg.
I get such sms all the time.
Especially when my hp number is real special number and easy to remember, which I got lucky to have when I first registered for it.
First I did like you did, complained about it, and receive the same standard response. But such unsolicited sms still keep coming.
I complained to my telco again, but this time I went beyond, cc the complain to SKMM as well, which then the telco melompat la siasat and make a difference.
Salam Oldstock
What pissed me off big time is that the telcos sell their database to marketeers.
If you don't get an SMS, you'll get phone calls selling one thing or the other.
When you ask the caller where they got your number, they would claim among others that their management gave it to them.
I haven't checked with MCMC whether this is legal. Maybe I should.
Chahya,
Thanks for the idea. I think I'll complain to SKMM too. This afternoon I received another sms. Tak boleh jadi mcm ni...
Salam Fauziah,
Now that you've mentioned it, I remember getting calls from telemarketers too. Real nuisance.
Like you, I ask them where they got my number from. Of course they won't say. I shoot back, if you don't tell me, then I won't listen to you.
I think you should. I actually copied exactly the content of the smses and the sender's numbers. After listing all then I emailed my complaints icluding the list of smses and cc to aduan@SKMM.
You'll see that they'll reply in no time, and the telco wont give u standard answers anymore.
I get them, too. And yes, they are such a pain.
One thing I have done is to stop giving out my cell phone number on forms and stuff. You know what I mean? Like say you apply for a Jusco card or something, leave the phone numbers blank! I think all these card people sell our numbers to whoever wants them!
I don't know if our telcos also sell this information - but, that would be illegal, wouldn't it?
But I'll also e-mail a complaint the next time I get crap like that! Thanks for the heads up, Chahya!
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