Stop Spam Text Messages

http://www.aarp.org/money/scams-fraud/info-10-2012/stop-spam-text-messages.html


What you can do to avoid rising cellphone scams and fake text messages
by: Sid Kirchheimer | from: AARP Bulletin | October 3, 2012

"You won!"

"Short on cash?"

Every day, about 45 million spam text messages are sent to North American cellphones. If you don't have a text message plan, you'll pay around 20 cents for each one you receive.

But the real cost comes if you respond to those micro messages about such things as free gift cards, cheap mortgages and meds, and urgent "account problems" at your bank.

That's because at least 70 percent of all cellphone text spam is designed to defraud you in some way, according to a study by Cloudmark, a company that makes anti-spam software. In contrast, only about 10 percent of spam arriving by email is sent with that intent.

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