Just had two text messages in this morning. One made me smile. It was from Premier Inn (yes I no longer suffer Travelodge) reminding me of my booking and booking reference number. I thought that was good. “Like”.
The other was from an extremely dodgy looking outfit saying “Government Legislation allows any unaffordable debts to be legally written off. Reply Y for a callback or click www.d-lg.co.uk and use our quick enquiry form”. The number was 07767169003.
Following the link takes you to a really dodgy looking site telling you nothing about who you are talking to. This really annoyed me – the opposite effect of the sms from the Premier Inn.
We the people really do need to get to grips with this. In fact that statement about Government Legislation must surely be erring on the side of illegal. I think I will explore it and find out more.
4 replies on “Unwanted text messages from dodgy outfits”
If you are an O2 customer can you forward spam texts like this to 7726, its a free service and O2 will look into it. Just simply click forward and enter 7726 as the recipient.
Thanks Nick but it’s almost certainly a PAYG SIM that won’t have a long shelf life.
There’s this outfit, but they’re even more useless than the TPS / MPS (and a slightly different premise);
http://www.mmaglobal.com/
Just had a note back from the ICO that suggests that some action may be taken here.
I include some links they provided with info on this sort of thing:
“Your closing comment “I think I will explore it and find out more”, gives me the opportunity to suggest the following which outline what the ICO would expect to see a marketing organisation adhering to.
Also feel free to include links to our website. This page includes a link to our own reporting tool which subscribers can use to report SPAM in addition to using the 7726 number: http://www.ico.org.uk/for_the_public/topic_specific_guides/marketing/texts
ICO guidance and Code of Practice on Privacy Notices which is absent from the website you quoted:
http://www.ico.org.uk/for_organisations/data_protection/topic_guides/privacy_notices
And rules on electronic marketing:
http://www.ico.org.uk/for_organisations/privacy_and_electronic_communications/the_guide/electronic_mail ”
If I get to find out the outcome I’ll let y’all know.