I am sure you have received the frequent spam email attacks from all over the world that go something like: "Dear Sir, XYZ died in XYZ country, and is worth millions of dollars tied up in an American Bank. There is no next of kin, so we would like for you to retrieve the money on our behalf, and in return you will get to keep X% for your trouble."
These scams seem to be more prevalent each passing day; however most of us typically delete them immediately and report them as spam to the search engines. Unfortunately there is a new avenue that these fraudulent individuals are honing in on: Text Messaging to personal cell phones!
So you can imagine my shock today when I personally received a Text Message via my business cell phone soliciting this same type of scam. The number that was populated appeared be a Malaysian country code. The message read exactly like this: "From: 01160163429407 I just view your website and i take interest. Can u be able to call me because i have important business to do with u?"
Granted most of us realize that these scams exist, and we pay no mind. However, utilizing the "Text Messaging" avenue, they could quite possibly be "texting" children, teenagers, and unsuspecting consumers who aren't aware of this type fraud. My concern is that if someone responds back via text either with a simple "Not Interested", or "Stop Harassing Me" that they could be feeding into an information vulnerability or premium rate calling similar to 900 numbers.
Apparently in Europe and Australia this has been a major issue as well. So much so that the European & Australian Governments are taking action and alerting their consumers. Please check out the following article for additional reading: Text Messaging Scam Alert
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