UK: OFT sends out fake scam text messages

The Office of Fair Trading has sent out thousands of fake scam (yes, think about that one) messages to people aged 18-24, to warn them of the dangers of (mobile) scams.

The message was sent out on 15th Feb as part of “Scams Awareness Month”, and read:

“Urgent! U may have won £1k cash with ‘2 Good 2 B True.”

It was followed quickly by another message from the OFT to warn it wasn’t a real message, and to warn of the dangers of Scams.

Interestingly, the people that received the texts had apparently opted in to receive promotional updates and messages from the regulator – but surely pseudo-tricking someone is (a) a waste of time and (b) irritating, which (c) surely corresponds to SPAM?! I have to say I really don’t subscribe to the concept that once someone “opts in”, they can be hit with any and all messages – people still have preferences, and they don’t like things that aren’t real, or pretending to be something they aren’t….

So re-working that equation then we get OFT send fake scam by using spam – nice…..

[Via: The Register]