SMS spams

There is a very interesting tale presently unravelling on Jeff Ooi’s blog, Screenshots, regarding SMS spam messages.

Here is my own experience with SMS spams, the latest one occuring at 1.41am this morning. I was woken up from my sleep when my mobile went off, I saw the message and immediately sat down to write a letter to MCMC. I’ve been doing that every time I receive a spam. If you are affected, it will do you good to complain too because it is your money. But first, remember to read Jeff Ooi and lend him your support.

Note: You should read from the bottom up. En Ismail is the person I correspond with at MCMC. As you can see, Ismail did write back to me initially but later on, I stopped receiving any message from him. Later, I started receiving telephone calls from this Alvin who is a customer care staff at Maxis.

====START====

Date: Thu, 17 May 2007 19:28:48 +0100 (BST)
From: “SS Quah”
Subject: SMS complaint 2007-05-18
To: “SS Quah”, “Ismail Othman”, “Admin”
CC: “Azizan Mohd Afandi”

Dear En Ismail,

I do not know whether MCMC has the ability to really put a stop to all this nonsense which seems to be starting again. I was aroused from my sleep when my mobile went off and this is the message I received:

Free SMS.Wpaper Dewiku-
H21 June
H22 Suriati
H23 Ritha
H24 Putri
H25 Milah
H26 Bibi
Taip H21 atau yg lain ke 32322.
RM3/mt,30sen wappush-AKNMTech

Sender: 32322
Sent: 01:41:06 18-05-2007

I am totally fed up and I think this is a white-collar crime that is reaping millions for both the celcos and the service provider. I don’t want to hear from my particular celco (Maxis) that they can only block this service provider from my mobile and cannot do anything more. Something must be done to impose a heavy fine on the celcos and the service providers for every unsolicited SMS spam that they are a party to.

Apart from the above, I want to report another matter. I don’t know what is this Service Inbox on my mobile but it seems to be related to the SMS spams. I’ve just discovered three service messages which are new to me:

Title:
Carta eBuzz
30sen
wappush.
Address:
http://202.9.101.140/wap/ebzpmo/content.asp?
c=list&cat=rng&pages=1&shortcode=32322

Title:
18/5 eBuzz DL
Address:
http://202.9.101.140/ewig3/get.asp?
id=wConr97ER006782&mobile=60124703700&n=mm&e=f+6v68qK0AD006ZgP
Created:
17:37:00
17.05.2007

Title:
18/5 eBuzz DL
Address:
http://202.9.101.140/ewig3/get.asp? id=6007OH929eqBa92&mobile=60124703700&n=mm&e=f+6v68rK0AD006ZgP
Created:
17:37:04
17.05.2007

Regards
SS Quah
Penang, Malaysia

————–

Date: Tue, 24 Apr 2007 07:57:55 +0100 (BST)
From: “SS Quah”
Subject: For the attention of Alvin (Maxis Customer Care)
To: customercare@maxis.com.my
CC: “Ismail Othman”, “Admin”, “Azizan Mohd Afandi”

Hi, Alvin,

Reference to our conversation this morning, I thought you had effectively barred 39898 from my handphone this morning??

I’ve just received this message from them, just 5 minutes ago:

RM0.50,WANITA: Gmar jk lelaki yg mbukakan pakaiannya,Suka berjanji dulu pd hari bila & waktu bila mahu melakukannya, & janji itu perlu ditunaikan.

Sender: 39898
Sent: 14:51:34 24-04-2007

I am losing my patience over this gross invasion into my privacy. Please look into this asap. Many thanks.

SS Quah
Penang, Malaysia
SS Quah wrote:

————————

Date: Tue, 24 Apr 2007 04:20:14 +0100 (BST)
From: “SS Quah”
Subject: Re: SMS complaint 2007-04-22
To: “SS Quah”, “Ismail Othman”, “Admin”
CC: “Azizan Mohd Afandi”

Dear En Ismail,

I am trying to bring temporary closure to the complaint. This morning at 9.42.16am and 9.48.09am, I received two telephone calls from a Mr Alvin of Maxis’ Customer Care. We had discussed the matter at length and he said that he would bar 32996 and 36633 from sending me further messages. He said that RM5.80 had been charged to my mobile bill which Maxis would waive.

At the same time, I told him that I had received a new SMS message this morning from this service gateway 39898. This is for your information too:

RM0.00,WANITA: Daftar diterima. Tiada yuran daftar. Harga: RM0.50/SMS sehingga dihentikan. Utk hentikan, htr BATAL ke 39898

Sender: 39898
Sent: 08:01:39 24-04-2007

This, Mr Alvin said would also be barred. Further, he informed that 39898 belonged to MMC Wireless Sdn Bhd with its office in Plaza Damansara, Bukit Damansara.

Accordingly, I received three SMS messages from MAXIS to inform me of the barring:

Your request to bar External Content Provider services will be active in 24 hours. To unbar, please call 123 or 03-74922123. Thank you.

The sender was Maxis and they were received by me at 09:40:37am, 09:41:24am and 09:53:31am.

En Ismail, I do not know whether this company – MMC Wireless Sdn Bhd – is behind all three service gateways 32996, 36633 and now 39898. I’m sure there are even more. And I also don’t know how they got my mobile number. If so, MCMC should follow up with this company to remind them that their SMS spams are not appreciated. I know it is a lucrative business to them (btw, how much do they earn from people who do not complain or do not know how or where to complain?) but there must be clear guidelines from MCMC on how their business should be conducted. And the guidelines should cover the telcos too. The telcos cannot wash their hands clean as they are providing the means for these companies to spam. I can deal with email spams because I can direct them to the trash folder, and it doesn’t cost me a single cent. But not SMS spams. They are intrusive and they cost money. So, telcos have a big part to play in protecting their consumers. Penalties must be imposed on abuses such as this.

Many thanks for reading this.

Regards
SS Quah
Penang, Malaysia

——————————-

Date: Sun, 22 Apr 2007 07:07:17 +0100 (BST)
From: “SS Quah”
Subject: SMS complaint 2007-04-22
To: “SS Quah”, “Ismail Othman”, “Admin”
CC: “Azizan Mohd Afandi”

Dear En Ismail,

When is this ever going to stop?? Here are two more today:

RM0.50,SYOK: 0049060 Lalala 0049066 OhBaby Aktifkn CRT:Taip *131# tkn CALL Utk muattrn taip *131*(Kod)# CALL Cth:*131*0049053# tekan CALL.RM3/DL

Sender: 36633
Sent: 10:08:24 22-04-2007

RM0.50,SYOK: 0049030 JenteraSawahPadi 0043935AnkTupey Aktifkn CRT:Taip *131# CALL Utk muatrn taip *131*(Kod)# CALL Cth:*131*0049030# tekan CALL.RM3/DL

Sender: 36633
Sent: 11:38:31 22-04-2007

SS Quah
Penang, Malaysia

—————————

Date: Sat, 21 Apr 2007 04:51:38 +0100 (BST)
From: “SS Quah”
Subject: RE: SMS complaint
To: “SS Quah”, “Ismail Othman”, “Admin”
CC: “Azizan Mohd Afandi”

Dear En Ismail,

I am making two more official complaints against MAXIS for allowing the delivery of these latest, unsolicited spam SMS messages to my mobile phone no: 012.4703700:

RM0.50,SYOK: 0049035 HgCangkul 0043952 TnyMakLang-Apek Aktifkn CRT:Taip *131# tkn CALL Utk muatrn taip *131*(Kod)# CALL Cth:*131*0049035# tekan CALL.RM3

Sender: 36633
Sent: 11:38:46 21-04-2007

RM0.50,SYOK: 0049073 WhtDaHell 0049036 Naluri Wanita Aktifkn CRT:Taip *131# CALL Utk muatrn taip *131*(Kod)# CALL Cth:*131*0049023# tekan CALL.RM3/DL

Sender: 36633
Sent: 10:08:47 21-04-2007

Regards
SS Quah
Penang, Malaysia

—————————-

Subject: FW: SMS complaint
Date: Mon, 23 Apr 2007 16:11:55 +0800
From: “Ismail Othman”
To: “Admin”
CC: “Azizan Mohd Afandi”, “SS Quah”

CFM,

Pls update Quah the outcome of his problem below

Regards,
Ismail
MCMC NRO

—————————–

Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2007 14:34:59 +0100 (BST)
From: “SS Quah”
Subject: RE: SMS complaint
To: “SS Quah”, “Ismail Othman”, “Admin”
CC: “Azizan Mohd Afandi”

Dear En Ismail,

Is anything being done to investigate into this problem? About an hour ago, I received this message from 36633:

RM0.50,SYOK: 0043953 Macam2Ada 0049028 CintaHarta Aktifkn CRT:Taip *131# CALL Utk muattrn taip *131*(Kod)# CALL Cth:*131*0043953# tekan CALL.RM3/DL

Sender: 36633
Sent: 20:08:47 20-04-2007

SS Quah
Penang, Malaysia

———————————–

Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2007 03:32:48 +0100 (BST)
From: “SS Quah”
Subject: RE: SMS complaint
To: “Ismail Othman”, “Admin”
CC: “Azizan Mohd Afandi”

Dear En Ismail,

Thank you for your message. Is MAXIS the service provider or some other third party? Regardless, MAXIS has a duty of care to their customers. If I thought that email spams are bad enough, I now have to contend with SMS spams. Worse, I do not know whether I’m going to be charged or not by sending in an Unsubscribe message to them. And the other problem is, if there an avenue whereby I can request MAXIS not to use my number in their marketing campaigns? If there is, it should be an option given to their subscribers.

Just my feedback. Thanks

SS Quah
Penang, Malaysia

—————————–

Subject: RE: SMS complaint
Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2007 09:29:40 +0800
From: “Ismail Othman” Add to Address BookAdd to Address Book
To: “SS Quah”, “Admin”
CC: “Azizan Mohd Afandi”

Dear Mr Quah,

The service provider is blasting the message to almost all of their customers. A kind like marketing strategy, which work to bait certain customers in subscribing their service gateway (36633). At this point, no charge is being imposed to the customers yet. Once the customer subscribe it, then the charge will be like 6 sms X RM0.50 ~ RM3.00 a week which is quite significant for a month (~RM12.00).

What you can do to stop this type on annoying is

1. type BATAL
2. send to 36633

Then the service gateway provider will respond back by saying the “service is terminated”. In the meant time MCMC will look into this matter with service provider for long term solution.

Regards,
Ismail.

———————————–

Date: Tue, 17 Apr 2007 15:16:02 +0100 (BST)
From: “SS Quah”
Subject: RE: SMS complaint
To: “Ismail Othman”, “Admin”
CC: “Azizan Mohd Afandi”

Dear En Ismail,

It is happening again. I’ve just received this SMS on my handphone 012.470xxxx from 36633:

RM0.00,Daftar diterima.Tiada Yuran daftar. Harga:RM0.50/SMS. 5-6 SMS/minggu sehingga dihentikan.Utk hentikan, htr BATAL ke 36633

Sender: 36633
Sent: 22:02:42 17-04-2007

I’ll appreciate if something can be done to stop all this irritation once and for all. The telcos must take responsibility for propagating this.

Regards
SS Quah
Penang

————————–

Subject: RE: SMS complaint
Date: Fri, 16 Mar 2007 16:27:35 +0800
From: “Ismail Othman”
To: “SS Quah”, “Admin”
CC: “Azizan Mohd Afandi”

Thanks Mr Quah for your clarification.

CFM,
Please check on this matter.

——————————

Date: Thu, 15 Mar 2007 14:49:55 +0000 (GMT)
From: “SS Quah”
Subject: RE: SMS complaint
To: “Ismail Othman”

Dear En Ismail,

My son and I have both received this message through our handphones and no, we can confirm that we have not sent any SMS to subscribe to this service. At this point, I do not know whether we will be charged.

For your information, my mobile number is 012.470xxxx (post-paid) while my son’s number is 016.495xxxx (prepaid).

Regards
SS Quah
Penang, Malaysia

————————

Subject: RE: SMS complaint
Date: Wed, 14 Mar 2007 22:01:18 +0800
From: “Ismail Othman”
To: “SS Quah”
CC: “Admin”

Mr Quah,

Do you send SMS to subscribe this service and do service provider charged you for their service?

Regards,
Ismail.

———————————-

Date: Mon, 12 Mar 2007 06:40:14 +0000 (GMT)
From: “SS Quah”
Subject: SMS complaint
To: “Ismail Othman”

Dear Ismail,

Thank you for taking my telephone call. As advised, I wish to make a complaint about SMS messages that I am receiving today through my handphone <012.470xxxx>.

The 1st message I received was at 14:04:26 on 12-03-2007 and it read:

RM0.00 Successful registration. No subscription fee. Price: RM3.00/SMS, until cancelled. To cancel, send STOP to 32996.

The 2nd message I received was at 14:30:42 on 12-03-2007 and it read:

RM0.00 Key in STOP ALL to cancel all service. OUT to cancel promotions msg. You are currently subscribed to the following: Ninja. To cancel, send STOP NINJ to 32996.

Thanks.
SS Quah
Penang, Malaysia