ADDISON (CBSDFW.COM) – We all get spam sent to our email accounts. But more and more often, scammers and even legitimate advertisers are bombarding consumers with unsolicited text messages on their cell phones.
“Spam is any kind of unsolicited mail,” said AT&T spokeswoman Alejandra Arango. “Sometimes there’s fine print and customers don’t realize that when they agreed to get something it comes attached with a couple other things.”
“It is a big deal,” said Jeff Farr, CEO of Addison technology consultant Farr Systems. “It’s either advertising or, much more often, it’s identity theft.”
Last summer a text messaging research company said 68% of the U.S. population is affected by text messaging spam.
Preventing spam from reaching your phone is fairly easy, experts said. The number one rule is never respond.
“The objective is to get you to interact because if you interact you are validating that you have a real number and they actually found a person,” Farr explained, “so they’re fishing.”
Most cell phones now have built-in spyware, but occasionally unwanted spam will get through the filter. That’s why service providers like Dallas-based AT&T are working to stop the message creators.
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