And consumers are being warned the launch of the London Olympics this weekend could also send their phone into a flutter and trigger a further influx of fake promotional texts.
Customers from major Telco’s including Telstra and Optus have complained they have been sent SMS’s claiming to be from mobile maker Nokia which state they are the winner of a major cash prize.
One consumer said she was woken at 5.46am this morning by a text message which read: “Your mobile has won $2,000,000 USD in this year (sic) Free Lotto mobile promo, for claims email us: {name/email/mobile number}”.
Another user received a SMS which suggested she had scored “9,900 pounds in a Nokia UK promotion” and requested she send her email address to claim the prize.
Reports of the unwelcome messages have been received by the Australian Communications and Media Authority who say the leak of spam via SMS has been on-going for almost four years.
Manager of ACMA’s anti-spam team Julia Cornwell McKean said despite a 10 per cent decrease in SMS spam nationwide last financial year, at least 150 spam messages were received over the past weekend.
“We’re unsure as to why that is. It’s a big number for our reports,” she said.
It comes after police were inundated by hundreds of panicked phone calls yesterday when a SMS warning people they would be killed unless they sent $5000 to an email address plagued phones at random.
She said other global brands such as Coca-Cola and Sony were also targeted by spammers and advised consumers to be logical when receiving text messages claiming they had a won a prize.
“Spammers tend to link large sporting events or big brands to the spam as many people are legitimately entering promotions at this time,” she said.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if consumers began to see spam promotions on their mobile phones tied into the Olympic Games.”
She recommended consumers act by ignoring the message and report the spam to the ACMA before deleting it.
“If you receive a similar message, it’s not your lucky day. A company isn’t going to contact you via SMS and tell you you’ve won that much money,” she said.
“Unfortunately while people should always be cautions when giving out their details, there’s no real precaution to take with SMS spam. The numbers are simply chosen at random.
“The best thing Australian’s can do in the fight against spam is nothing. Just ignore it.”
She said while SMS spam was an issue in Australia, email spam was far more prolific, with 218,000 cases reported to ACMA last year in comparison to 7,411 fake texts.
Comment has been sought from Nokia.
A Nokia spokesperson said the company was aware its brand name was used in hoax text messages.
“These messages are sent via parties that are not associated with Nokia in any way,” the spokesperson said.
“Our advice is not to reply to these messages or pass them on, as it is possible that by replying or taking the requested actions your personal information could be misused by the originators of the message or others.
“The most effective action is to delete the message without responding to the sender.”
And consumers are being warned the launch of the London Olympics this weekend could also send their phone into a flutter and trigger a further influx of fake promotional texts.
Customers from major Telco’s including Telstra and Optus have complained they have been sent SMS’s claiming to be from mobile maker Nokia which state they are the winner of a major cash prize.
One consumer said she was woken at 5.46am this morning by a text message which read: “Your mobile has won $2,000,000 USD in this year (sic) Free Lotto mobile promo, for claims email us: {name/email/mobile number}”.
Another user received a SMS which suggested she had scored “9,900 pounds in a Nokia UK promotion” and requested she send her email address to claim the prize.
Reports of the unwelcome messages have been received by the Australian Communications and Media Authority who say the leak of spam via SMS has been on-going for almost four years.
Manager of ACMA’s anti-spam team Julia Cornwell McKean said despite a 10 per cent decrease in SMS spam nationwide last financial year, at least 150 spam messages were received over the past weekend.
“We’re unsure as to why that is. It’s a big number for our reports,” she said.
It comes after police were inundated by hundreds of panicked phone calls yesterday when a SMS warning people they would be killed unless they sent $5000 to an email address plagued phones at random.
She said other global brands such as Coca-Cola and Sony were also targeted by spammers and advised consumers to be logical when receiving text messages claiming they had a won a prize.
“Spammers tend to link large sporting events or big brands to the spam as many people are legitimately entering promotions at this time,” she said.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if consumers began to see spam promotions on their mobile phones tied into the Olympic Games.”
She recommended consumers act by ignoring the message and report the spam to the ACMA before deleting it.
“If you receive a similar message, it’s not your lucky day. A company isn’t going to contact you via SMS and tell you you’ve won that much money,” she said.
“Unfortunately while people should always be cautions when giving out their details, there’s no real precaution to take with SMS spam. The numbers are simply chosen at random.
“The best thing Australian’s can do in the fight against spam is nothing. Just ignore it.”
She said while SMS spam was an issue in Australia, email spam was far more prolific, with 218,000 cases reported to ACMA last year in comparison to 7,411 fake texts.
Comment has been sought from Nokia.
A Nokia spokesperson said the company was aware its brand name was used in hoax text messages.
“These messages are sent via parties that are not associated with Nokia in any way,” the spokesperson said.
“Our advice is not to reply to these messages or pass them on, as it is possible that by replying or taking the requested actions your personal information could be misused by the originators of the message or others.
“The most effective action is to delete the message without responding to the sender.”
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