17 Feb 04

A recent news-report in the London Daily Telegraph disclosed that a scam involving “missed call marketing” costing mobile phone users up to almost $30 a time has been curbed.

According to the Daily Telegraph the scam involves the use of computers to call thousands of mobile phones, and reportedly the vast majority of the calls are allegedly originating from a company registered in the British Virgin Islands.

The victims of this scam see a message on their phone’s screen and when they return the call they are redirected at a cost of almost $3 per minute to a pre-recorded message offering “fantastic” cash prizes of £1,000.

The Independent Committee for the Supervision of Telephone Information Services (ICSTIS) said that this type of marketing is totally unsolicited and likely to target children and the economically vulnerable.

An ICSTIS spokesperson told the Guardian that they suspect that it is just one or two companies behind this scam. Regulators believe that both are related to another operation “called Quartel 3 and that all can be linked back to Greenbay Ltd, registered in Tortola”

     Legal Issues in Mobile     

2004
SMS Mobile spam draws US FCC regulator wrath
Verizon Wireless sues SMS spammer
EU Commission challenges UK international roaming rates
BT and TMobile UK argue over mobile termination rates
Russian mobile revenues to exceed USD 9 billion in 2004
Ofcom to strengthen premium rate services protection
New UK Regulations for opting out of PSMS
Consumer group formulates cell phone in-flight policy
Malaysian couple misread text competition details
Legal Q&As - working time and 3G harassment
Switzerland to insist on Prepaid registration
Malaysian couple misread text competition details
Consumer group formulates cell phone in-flight policy
GSM Wireless Nanny Blocker Launched
UK Mobile Operators Block Online Porn
Finland's cellphone service watchdog shuts down SMSs from 'God'
Brazilian Government Faces Legal Action Over Regulator Sacking

2003
Now you can dump your wife by SMS
EU presses for mobile spam and privacy laws
Mobile Phone whilst driving ban commences in the UK
"No cell phones" sticker now trademarked
Warning That Bluetooth Class I devices pose hacking & security risk
Anti-spam laws now in force in the UK ban unsolicited SMS
South Korea Clamps Down on SMS Spam
Tackling worldwide trade in stolen mobiles
New GSM Jammer Looks Like a GSM Cellphone
Sangyo 360 degree surveilance camera working with 3G phones
Bizarre Jamming Of Moldova GSM Network
Camera phones a threat to industrial secrets
US tower firm fined over safety violations
Mobile Phone whilst driving ban commences in the UK
Lawsuit over GSM network seizure in Cote d'Ivoire
African GSM Operators Create Mobile Phone EIR Blacklist
Woman suffers facial burns from cell phone
Nigerian Regulator  Sets Up Arbitration Panels Over GSM Complaints
Calif. bans mobile phone spam
Security Concerns Still Slowing Mobile App Deployment
DoCoMo Mova F505i wth fingerprint authentication technology
GSM Association sets its sights on spamming globally
Vodafone to clamp down on SMS Spam
GSM Jammer Security Device saved Pakistan's president
Worlds First Mobile Spyphone Launched
EU moves against illegal and harmful content online
Korean Government Admits Developing Anti-Tapping
South Korea to introduce tougher Location laws