The other day I received this SMS from my carrier (Optus).
It reads:
To get a free ringtone, call 966 and select 9 after the greeting. Call costs 30c/30secs, download charges apply, expires 30/04/07. Call 1300720084 to un-sub.
So let me get this straight:
- The ringtone is not free. I have to pay 60 cents per min on the IVR plus data charges to receive it. No doubt the IVR will keep me on the line as long as possible.
- I have to call a premium number to unsubscribe. As far as I am aware there is no free 1300 number in Australia.
- I never opted in to receive any offers from Optus.
This is the worst kind of spam in my mind. I have to pay to opt out of something I never opted in to begin with. Does Optus think that because I’m a subscriber I have implicitly opted in? If I opt out will I never get these again?
I got the same telephone number as an opt-out for the “Make Poverty History Zero Seven Concert” to be held on July 1st.
It’s not Optus, it’s mobile phone spam scammers.
It’s dodgy. I recieved an sms that read:
“Welcome to Optus Prepaid.Reply to this SMS with your email to get 50 free sms. To unsub from txt ph 1300720084″
Now all these blogs mention this number relating to spam ringtones.
I newly transfered to optus prepaid and the customer service rep didn’t mention anything about email subscription offers with 50 free sms.
Not only that, notice the inconsistencies, SMS, sms and txt. Also, they were cheap with characters and reduced words and even removed the space before the word Reply to perfectly fit one sms. Not something Optus would do.
So I gave a very very old email which I check every two months or so… It’s been about 2 weeks, still haven’t receive any free sms or reply and funny thing is, no extra spam for my email.
Maybe I should call up the ACCC.
I know im sounding like spam right now. but i really dont get why people would join a service that only gives you 50 or 100 free text messages. ive been using peekamo and its totally free. ill be in class sending text messages all day. but whatever, take it for what it is.