Saurabh Dutta

So what happened to the mobile content industry? Seems the bubble has burst.  From 2004 to mid 2007, you could see almost every content developer scrounging to sell their stuff via Premium SMS to the mobile. You could see them sell all sorts of useless stuff like wallpapers, mp3s, ringtones, etc at an exorbitant price though this channel called Premium SMS (PSMS). For the ones who do not know about PSMS, it is a payment method, implemented by telcos to rip you off of your precious dollars. The mobile content company sends you an sms with a link to a content which you might have unknowingly signed up to. Now you are charged 2-3 dollars for receiving this content which you could easily have google searched and transferred to your phone. These are the ways these SMS scams usually work:

1.  Mobile Originated (MO) messages - You are enticed to send a message in reply to a promotional quiz/contest/anything that stimulates the dumb cells and in return get a wallpaper or ringtone which you had never asked for. Moreover, for sending this message, you get charged anywhere between $1 to $5 on your phone bill. 
2. Mobile Terminated (MT) messages - These are even more atrocious than #1. This kind of messaging capability gives the content provider the power to send an SMS to you and charge you for it. There is usually a regulation in most countries to prevent this kind of misuse but the fact is that a lot of companies practice this way too often and almost always get under the radar. 
3. Subscription based PSMS - This is the worst of the lot. This gives the power to the content provider to charge your phone bill $x per week. And boy they make use of it. The unsuspecting (usually dumb) customer falls in for these scams and they continue to get ripped off. Heres is an example. Note the small T&C at the bottom - “This is a subscription service. *Bonus tone is for free. Bonus tone will be sent the first week of subscription. You will receive max. 3 tones for £13.50 per week until you send STOP to 83001. Start up: a joining fee of £3.00 shall apply. T-Mobile customers receive 4 tones for £12.00 per week. Sent text charged at standard operator fees. Min. age 16+with bill payers permission. Celldorado operates according to the PhonepayPlus Code of Practice and the UK code of practice for the self-regulation of new forms of content on mobiles. Celldorado offers innovative information and entertainment for your mobile, such as ringtones, Javagames and wallpapers. Celldorado offers original, unique services with the highest standards. P.O. Box: BCM BOX 2626, London, WC1N 3XX. Helpdesk: 0207 959 6124.” Bloody 13.5 POUNDS per week.

  Please spread the word. This is a hoax. Never ever fall for such BS. PSMS is the biggest scam perpetrated by telcos with content providers lying in their beds.  The menace has reduced a lot in 2008, but is still at large. Please do your part in stopping it.