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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]
About The Author
Ben Robinson
Ben is a 10+ year veteran of the Mobile industry – starting his career when SMS was a still a relatively new concept for most people (!), he has now consulted on everything from bleeding-edge Mobile content, to the next-gen accessories you might view it on. As a result he has a broad and deep knowledge in numerous areas of Mobile – from network operators to device vendors, to infrastructure and middleware vendors (not to mention content delivery) – and has worked for companies in all of these areas! He is based in the UK, a hotbed of activity for mobile, and recently became a father for the second time – as oppose to in his younger years when he was happy spend time tweaking all manner of mobile devices to 'nth' degree, he now looks for services and hardware that provide the most efficient, compact, and reliable improvements to his already manic life! It’s his opinion that Mobile solutions should be there to help to make your life better – if a particular solution (be it service or device) isn’t doing this, he believes you need to ask the very important question of why you continue to use it... His focus at IntoMobile is mainly on Mobile content, services, and infrastructure, particularly as regards the UK market – and with the occasional look at devices. Additionally, using his extensive experience in the industry, he will provide commentary on the industry at large, with regular (and hopefully thought-provoking) articles.
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justone
