SMSes sent from random extra long numbers

aalwees

aalwees

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I'd like to discuss this and get some more info about this relatively new phenomenon.

I really dislike it. It's a serious irritation and generally a security hazard for the following reasons:

1. It's like spam in that the sender is able to hide to some extent. Every inch that spam spills over into the cell phone sphere needs to be resisted tooth and nail!
2. It's useless entering the number in your phone book for the purposes of blocking a number because it's always different.
3. It's always different even in the case of SMSes from companies you regularly receive SMSes from - e.g. Telkom - it does not slot in with other SMSes from them. It works against the ordering of your SMSes.
4. You usually have no easy way of knowing that the SMS is really from who it says it's from. This provides cover for criminals; it's easy for them to pretend to be legit when they aren't. Telkom sent me an SMS a couple of weeks ago in which I was invited to send my ID number to a particular number in order get certain account info. Since it came from one of those long numbers, I had no easy way of knowing that it was really from them. I can easily imagine a crook gathering personal info in this way and taking advantage of my mother-in-law's inexperience.
5. I suspect the system involves marketing companies and this means my number is being exposed by legit companies I deal with to third parties who have a very unhealthy interest in my phone number.
6. It's rude. If any person or company wishes to communicate with me, I expect an introduction if it's the first time, and always a name, a clear and truthful identification. It's like "Hello Sir, howareyou...?"
7. I like caller ID and like people to know that I have caller ID. This system works against the caller ID system.
8. It breaks down trust.

I'd like to know how other people feel about this and am keen to get further info on how the system works and where it comes from.
 
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Yes it's annoying.

Just out of interest, the extra digits act as a foreign key for the marketers to know who has responded and tie this back to a campaign ID or sorts.
 
Oh, so it's basically an anonymous foot in the door. I should have known the marketing big brother was behind it. It's going to be an uphill battle to get rid of it. I'm responding to every legit sender who uses it by telling them I don't like it and why. My bank even used it once or twice before they woke up to what a security hazard it was.
 
Can someone tell me how even the legit marketers get hold of your number? These guys popup selling insurance or funeral covers, yet you never gave or approve them to use your number. It smells SP inside job.
 
Chris, that is one of my worries about this system. If it involves using a 3rd party service that my number is being exposed to like a marketing company or someone else who might sell my number on, then it is a serious concern. This is one of the main reasons I'd like more info about the system. In the case of one irksome SMS, I searched online and looked the number up and there was a marketing company linked to it. I phoned them up and they refused to tell me who they sent the SMS for.
 
I have some inside info on this from a source who prefers to remain anonymous:
1. If a company deals internationally and needs to send payment reminders or whatever, it is very expensive to set up numbers in all the countries you deal with so you use a messaging service.
2. Nexmo, based in the USA, is one of the most trusted services and charges about us$0.02 per SMS.
3. Pretty much all the South African messaging services are cheaper but cannot be trusted to not sell client's numbers on.
4. iPhones can block the long numbers and if one enables Do Not Disturb mode, only numbers in your contact list will ring and alert.

So there is sometimes a good reason for a company to use a messaging service. What I don't yet understand is why the number has to be long, random and unidentifiable. That is a deal-breaker.

The other thing worth finding out about if you want to know where a company got your number is who their messaging service is. You might notice that lots of your random spam SMSes come via the same messaging service.
 
Add key words to be blocked:

opt
opt out
optout
promotion

etc.

I dont get any rubbish anymore
 
I'd love to know how you use keywords to block SMSes. Neither my phone nor my cell phone provider provide a way for me to do that.

Also, I'm not just objecting to SMS spam via this system. I'm objecting to the long number system being used by legit companies which I do business with. For the reasons given, I don't want my bank or Telkom or my ISP using such a system to communicate with me.
 
As far as I know this is all down to CellC.. they changed something and then this spam has blown up... The messages all seem to come from an 084 number.
 
ChrisStar said:
Can someone tell me how even the legit marketers get hold of your number? These guys popup selling insurance or funeral covers, yet you never gave or approve them to use your number. It smells SP inside job.
Click to expand...

I have access to a database of about 150k active cellphone numbers through the work that I do - some people who are in my position sell these numbers to marketers and even criminals. So if someone promises to pay you R1 or 50c per number, some people find that hard to resist and they just export numbers to excel, save on USB and sell these on - it's so disgusting because I had a number which at some point would receive close to 15 SMS per day from marketers and people claiming I won the lotto...
 
Here's a sampling of how my numbers begin: 082, 081, 082, 082, 082, ... mostly 082. Those aren't cellC numbers, are they?

It has to have something to do with how messaging services operate. But it also has to have something to do with ICASA because there is a protocol involved. You can't just tag a string of extra digits onto your number and have that shown in the caller ID of the recipient. There has to be some recognised protocol in place.
 
It's time we had a cellphone provider do spam filtering. Of course they don't want to do that because it will hurt their bottom line but it's just selfish and short-sighted. Imagine what it will do to a cellphone provider's market share if it started offering spam filtering.
 
aalwees said:
Here's a sampling of how my numbers begin: 082, 081, 082, 082, 082, ... mostly 082. Those aren't cellC numbers, are they?

It has to have something to do with how messaging services operate. But it also has to have something to do with ICASA because there is a protocol involved. You can't just tag a string of extra digits onto your number and have that shown in the caller ID of the recipient. There has to be some recognised protocol in place.
Click to expand...


Which provider are you with ?
 
Talking about buying and selling numbers and email addresses, I once met a oke at a braai who was talking about a game he was developing and asked him how he's market it and he said he'd just buy a million email addresses. "Easy", he said. To this day, I regret not having the courage to say to his face there and then, "So that's how people become spammers, is it?"
 
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