Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/2004/07/12/sms_spamvertisment/

Pssst, wanna spam mobile phones?

Chancer makes an offer you can refuse

By John Leyden

Posted in Security, 12th July 2004 16:19 GMT

Mobile phones are becoming the latest target of junk mailers whose cynical attempts to enrich themselves at the cost of wasting everybody else’s time apparently know no bounds. One chancer spammed world+dog last weekend with an offer to teach his elite cell phone spamming skills to a few chosen individuals in exchange for the princely sum of $1,000.

Naturally sent through a spoofed email address, the "cell phone spam guru" claims the lawsuits against him from US carrier Verizon prove he knows what he's talking about. Those wanting to spam mobiles without getting caught would presumably want to look elsewhere:

Date: Sat, 10 Jul 2004 03:20:42 +0400 From: Subject: Become an CELLPHONE SPAMMER To:

Everyone knows response rates for email spam have gone downhill tremendously over the past two years. It's no surprise ... after all, we've been bombarding people with ads for everything from penile enlargement pills to mortgages almost since the day the Web was invented.

But cellphones are a different story. Very few people know how to mass broadcast text messages.

But I do. I've been doing it for six months now, and the response rate is HUGE. If I send a hundred thousand messages, I'll pull 20 good mortgage leads easily. And it's not hard to send a few million text messages a day. Remember, cellphone carriers ARE NOT ISPS. They don't know anything about filters! They have a few filters, sure, but they are weak and ineffective.

Bottom line ... I am getting sued by two major carriers and must get out of the business. I am willing to pass on the torch to 3 people only. I will give you everything you need to start mass mailing text messages instantly. Here is what I will provide you:

** List of over 10,000,000 cellphone numbers ** Script that will autogenerate ALL the possible cellphone numbers of every major carrier in the US ** Cellphone carrier exchanges (For example, to send a message to sprint phone, you need the 10 digit number plus the "@" sign, plus the carrier exchange at the end, something like 5169023314@sprint.text.com) ** My personal advice and instruction on how to mass broadcast SMS, tips on the various filters, and technical support

NOTE: I am not going to hold your hand and walk you through the process of sending emails. If you are NOT an experienced bulker already, do not buy this package. I am only offering this to EXPERIENCED EMAIL MARKETERS who know how to send email. The type of support I will provide is information on the filters that I have discovered during my six months of SMS mailing. Also, I will discuss the methods I used to send the mail, but your own methods should work fine too. If you can send an email, you can send a text message.

Here is my motto: IF YOU CAN SEND YOUR FRIEND A TEXT MESSAGE, YOU CAN SEND IT TO ONE MILLION FRIENDS JUST AS EASILY.

Price for this package is $1,000. I require half up front, half upon delivery of the package and three days of support.

Contact me at [deleted] if interested.

I am not a ripoff. Upon request, I can fax you a copy of the 74 page lawsuit against me by Verizon. I have been a bulker since 1996 and focused entirely on text messaging for the past six months.

Once again, contact me at [deleted] for more info.

Sincerely,

Eddy M.

Full of the type of braggadocio normally associated with "bullet-proof hosting" offers, the latest spam offer shows the direction the spam problem could take if mobile phone companies fail to tackle the problem at source. They need to learn to avoid falling into the same traps that have allowed junk mail to reach epidemic proportions. The EU's Directive on Privacy and Electronic Communications prohibit sending text message spam but even as these rules are written into local laws doubts persist about how effectively they will be enforced.

In Europe and the US, junk SMS messages are just a minor nuisance but the issue has already reached serious proportions in Asia. CNN reports that Japanese operator DoCoMo has been forced to cut off 2,173 lines for spam abuse. ®

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