iTWire - ACMA cans SMS spam scammers

ACMA cans SMS spam scammers

By Stan Beer
Monday, 01 June 2009 10:24

The Australian Communications and Media Authority has sent a clear message to would be SMS spammers intending to scam unsuspecting mobile phone users looking for love and social contact. ACMA has already closed down three spam operations pending a court case.

The three companies involved, Mobilegate Ltd, Winning Bid Pty Ltd and Jobspy Pty Ltd have all been accused of breaching the Spam Act by sending unsolicited SMS messages to users with the aim of getting them to reply using premium rate mobile numbers.

The alleged spammers would then pocket the proceeds from their targets as well as harvesting their contact details for future scams.

According to ACMA, many of the targets were obtained through setting up fictitious profiles on dating and social networking websites.

The Federal Court of Australia has granted interlocutory orders in relation to ACMA’s proceedings against Mobilegate, Winning Bid, Jobspy and individuals associated with the companies.

ACMA alleges, among other things, that Mobilegate, Winning Bid and International Machinery Parts (now deregistered) sent or caused unsolicited SMS messages to be sent to Australian mobile telephone numbers via the premium rate telephone shortcode 19773366, 19910006 and/or 19724253 for the purpose of:

    * offering to supply, advertise or promote a service known as ‘Safe Divert’, which was marketed as a text relay message service, or ‘Maybemeet’; and/or

    * by deception, through the use of fabricated dating profiles, to dishonestly obtain a financial advantage or gain from Australian mobile telephone account holders.

ACMA also alleges that misleading or deceptive representations were made to members of dating websites in contravention of the Trade Practices Act 1974. These representations were designed to entice the recipient to reply to SMS messages at a cost of up to five dollars per message.

Orders made in relation to Winning Bid, Simon Anthony Owen, Tarek Andreas Salcedo and Glenn Christopher Maughan, require, among other things, that the respondents refrain from:

    * creating, submitting or registering fictitious profiles on dating websites or social networking websites;

    * posting or otherwise publishing photos or other images of individuals on dating websites or social networking websites without first obtaining the permission of those individuals to do so;

    * communicating with users of dating websites or social networking websites on those websites through fictitious profiles.

Winning Bid was further ordered to remove or otherwise deactivate fictitious profiles on dating websites or social networking websites it has registered or placed on those websites.

Consent orders were also obtained from Jobspy and Scott Mark Moles to the effect that, amongst other things, they also be restrained from creating, submitting or registering profiles on dating websites and social networking sites; posting photos or images of individuals on any website without permission; or communicating with users of dating or social networking sites.

The first respondent, Mobilegate, did not oppose orders proposed by ACMA which were in similar terms to those made by consent in relation to Jobspy.

The interlocutory order was granted on 22 May 2009, subject to the court making final orders following the hearing of the matter. A date for the final hearing has yet to be set.

"This is an important case for the Australian Communications and Media Authority’, said Chris Chapman, ACMA Chairman.

"We want to get the message out that the Spam Act applies to more than just email … it applies to all commercial electronic messages, which very much includes SMS."