How to Report Cell Phone Spam

Spam is familiar to most Internet and email users. In fact, most people are accustomed to spending several minutes each day deleting spam from their email inboxes. But spam is not limited to email anymore. In the wake of the wireless age, spammers have devised some very clever ways to send spam to your cell phone as well. Fortunately, you don't have to put up with it if you know how to report cell-phone spam.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Computer with Internet access

Reporting Cell Phone Spam

1. Review the laws regarding spam. The Federal Communications Commission enacted the CAN-SPAM Act in 2003.

2. Know that marketers who do not comply with the CAN-SPAM law and continue to send spam to your cell phone can face up to a year in prison and huge fines.

3. Report a violation of cell-phone spam to the Federal Communications Commission (see Resources below).

Preventing Future Cell Phone Spam

4. Keep your cell-phone records private. Believe it or not, cell-phone records can be purchased on the Internet in some cases, including a record of calls made and received. To deter this, ask your carrier to remove the call details from your bill entirely.

5. Make sure your contact information (and that of others) is completely removed from your cell phone before you sell, trade or donate it. Otherwise, your information may end up in the wrong hands and could be sold or traded.

6. Ask your carrier to include your phone number in the no-spam database. The Federal Communications Commission now requires wireless service providers to furnish the domain names of subscribers who do not wish to receive advertisements on their cell phones when the message is being rerouted from an email address.

Tips & Warnings

• There's a major difference in how the CAN-SPAM law relates to spam received in email and on a cell phone. The law allows advertisers to send spam to email addresses, providing they include a link to "opt out" from receiving further communications. Marketers who send advertising messages to a cell phone, however, must obtain permission from the subscriber beforehand.
• Be guarded about who you give your cell-phone number to. Often, surveys and certain applications will ask for your cell-phone number. What you may not realize is that in the fine print you've authorized the company to send you text messages.

Who Can Help Sponsored

[headcrash]

on 10/30/2009 The solution bkatsharley30? Drop Sprint like a hot rock. Sprint is _terrible_ in regards to protecting your privacy, and their customer service is atrocious. Do yourself a big favor and look elsewhere for a new provider. Good luck!

[mouseover]

on 10/23/2008 323.372.1306, 323-228-5109, 323-469-3505

[jackhaley]

on 4/2/2008 Beware of Spam messages being sent to cell phones in the 917 area code (NYC) advertising "body rubs" with a link to a flickr.com site. The site will attempt to install spyware on your PC. The message comes from different numbers in the 917 area code.

[bkatsharley30]

on 3/15/2008 Sprint Nextel needs to clean up their act regarding the texting spam. I have been recieving pornographic text messages for many months. I have paid over $200.00 in text charges on an unlimited plan due to the hundreds of pornographic text messages that I am still recieving. Sprint Nextel continues to give excuse after excuse. I work in the school district of Lake County and have a nine year old daughter. This is unacceptable! All of the spam needs to stop. Sprint Nextel are aware of my current problem and yet refuse to remedy the situation. I have been a customer of theirs for over 10yrs and will take further action if this problem is not resolved. Pornographic spam texting should be blocked for all they know I could be my nine year old daughter who is recieving these. Sprint Nextel DOES NOT CARE!!!!!! Please Help all.