Complaints about spam texts are increasing

UK CITIZENS are becoming increasingly vocal about the number of spam text messages that they receive, according to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO).

The commissioner's office fielded just over 618 complaints about unrequested marketing messages between April 2010 and April this year, according to a report at the BBC, and it said that these figures are perhaps just the tip of the iceberg. Since April the number of complaints has almost doubled, to 1,008 complaints received, it adds.

Spam messages are advertising sent to you although you did not request them. How this differs from the constant stream of advertising we are subjected to is probably for marketing professors to say, but for now we can tell you that they are annoying and are on the ICO's radar.

Unfortunately, while we find the difference confusing, so does the ICO find their legality a beguiling issue.

"The reason that people do this is to make money," said the ICO's Simon Entwhistle. "They send out text messages using sophisticated computer equipment buying untraceable SIM cards. If they send out 100 texts and one person replies that's some money made for them. They can sell that one claim on, times that by a million they can make a lot of money out of this business."

Unfortunately sending out spam texts is not a criminal offence, and for now the best advice coming out of the ICO is that you should not share your mobile phone number too often and not reply to any unsolicited text messages. µ