Spam-Smishing-Cramming: Tips

Sunday’s New York Times Technology Section carried two articles that, together, provide some valuable information to cell phone users. First, you’ve probably noticed an increase in spam on your cell phone. If you’ve got texting, you’ve no doubt received at least a couple of spam messages. Apparently, there has been a large increase in phone spam in the past three years, and a spike in phishing spam- termed ‘smishing.’

As with email spam, there’s not much you can do about it. Delete it. Not much point in blocking individual numbers, because it’s unlikely that the same number will spam you more than once. You can sign up for a service that costs money to block the spam texts. You can change your phone number. Wait- no, not really, because if you discontinue your service before your contract expires, you’re subject to an early termination fee. OR, you can do what another article in the Times mentioned in the context of another topic- cramming.

Cramming is what happens when your cellphone bill gets bigger and bigger as your provider tacks on curious charges for things you didn’t ask for and don’t use. Cramming can work insidiously with smishing to make your cellphone bill unwieldy. Here’s how it works. You get an unsolicited text and respond. That gets you signed up for a service that charges your account ten bucks a month. The cellphone company gets a cut of the charge because it bills for it.

The Times blogger brought up an excellent point. Why is it that the default isn’t that all phones don’t block unrequested services unless requested? Instead, what happens is that the companies charge customers and customers pay the charges until they notice that their bills are costing them as much as their mortgages do and they take a look at the itemized bill. When cornered, AT&T and Verizon assured the Times reporter that they will block unrequested services if requested by the subscriber. Note, though, that the customer must request that the services be blocked, so don’t assume it’s happening if you haven’t made the call.