Calls for mobile phone companies to crack down on scam on consumersBy Kate Smith
Within minutes of topping up his mobile phone, retired detective inspector John McRae received two unsolicited texts which consumed most of his credit.
At £3 each the amount may seem small, but McRae, 62, from Edinburgh, was that day just one of the millions of victims of a multi-million pound text message scam by international spammers which regulators admit they are powerless to combat.
More than 1.2 million unsolicited texts are received in the UK every day, says research by uSwitch.com.
The spam gangs exploit loopholes in mobile phone contracts in which the consumer agrees to send and receive texts and foot the bill. They are mainly from outside the EU and regulators say it is impossible to stop them.
"It strikes me as suspicious that as soon as I topped up my O2 phone, the texts appeared, taking away £6 immediately," said McRae. "The texts were gibberish and unwanted. This is a scam and one that should be dealt with. To text back and complain would only confirm to the fraudsters your details. When I complained to O2, I was given a premium number to call. It's ridiculous."
More than 43 million Britons own a mobile phone, 16.6 million of which are infected with up to 37m texts per month.
The texting branch of OFCOM, Phonepayplus (formerly ICTSIS), admitted text spamming is a huge problem, with large increase in complaints and adjudications. But it is unable to cope with the size of the problem.
It has not collated figures on the number of complaints about unsolicited reverse billed texts nor how much it is costing the British consumer, although it told the Sunday Herald it would shortly be starting research into it.
A spokeswoman said: "Unsolicited texts can be a nuisance and, when they cost you money, far worse than that. Our Code of Practice prevents companies from charging customers for texts they don't want to receive and we have powers to issue fines of up to £250,000, bar services and instruct the provider to refund its customers."
Since February the regulator has adjudicated on seven cases. Three stipulated the company was to refund the customers and even then only the customers who had claimed a refund. The fines levied ranged from £500 fine and a reprimand against Re5ult Ltd to a £100,000 against Unify Media Group.
A spokesman from MX telecom, one of the many companies who send the premium SMS texts on behalf of companies, told the Sunday Herald: "If a previous owner of your mobile number had once subscribed to a premium text service they will continue to send premium texts, even if that was five owners ago.
"The cross-network charging structure in mobile phones is complex. By virtue of this loophole, mobile phone owners are responsible for paying for any reverse-bill texts."
An expert warned that the situation is set to get as bad as the spam email problem. Steve Weller, head of communications services at uSwitch.com, demanded the government come up with tougher laws.
Weller said: "Part of the problem is there are no spam filters for mobiles, so if a pattern similar to email spam emerges for mobiles it will pose a major problem for everyone in the near future."
A spokesman for the Information Commissioner said: "It might contravene the Privacy of Electronic Telecommunications Act but the phone owner is responsible for paying for any texts."
An insider at Vodaphone said: "Often customers may have subscribed and forgotten about it."
O2 said: "It might be the case that it is happening shortly after topping up a pay as you go phone because, rather than the text sender knowing you have topped up, it means that you have the credit to pay for the texts. There is no connection between these companies and networks."
