Robert Moskowitz's Risks article 'Great DoS attack for cell phones' prompted
me to write.
This week I've received two identical SMS messages telling me to urgently
call a number, normal enough for a busy IT consultant perhaps, but the
number was for a premium rate line.
Such abuses are not specifically SMS related (A favourite UK scam was to
make very cheap goods and holiday offers via junk fax, where to accept it
the order must be sent to a premium rate fax number - no doubt some Office
employees figured they would turn their employers phone bill into their
holiday money and ordered despite knowing the number was premium rate),
although the ever changing number schemes inflicted on the average Brit by
our telecoms regulator is making it harder and harder to sort out the wheat
from the chaff, and the sheer number of mobile phones will make these scams
more profitable and presumably therefore more common.
At least I may have found a use for the premium rate number blocking service
offered by many mobile phone operators, it will let people act on their SMS
messages without be lumbered with an unexpectedly large bill.
Perhaps someone would care to enlighten me as to what urgent messages I
declined to pay for?
Simon Waters www.eighth-layer.com Tel: +44(0)1395 232769 ICQ: 116952768
Moderated discussion of teleworking issues at news:uk.business.telework [Simon Waters via risks-digest Volume 21, Issue 44]
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