Why are you sending me f ck n spam on my cell phone you f ck n morons!!!

The BBQ Pit
1

spam, & junk faxes are bad enough, but now I got a piece of spam on my cellphone (actually the faxes are really bad - but that’s another rant).

When I get junk faxes that includes toll free number I usually call it a few times and just yell at the @ssholes for a while. And that’s the same thing I did with this spam to my cellphone.

I would like to set up an autodialer program to just call these yahoos up continously throughout the day and just give them a modem tone, just to tie up their lines and their opperators.

My cellphone costs me $0.02 per incomming message, not much but the fact that I have to pay for your unwanted message taht costs you nothing to send it outragous! Also I receive faxes via efax.com which converts them to email attachments which with DSL is not a problem but sometimes I am traveling and am lucky to get a 28.8 connection or even a 14.4 if connecting via cellpnone (which uses airtime minutes) - just to download your crap which costs you basically nothing to send me.

I feel this is simular to you breaking my door down to leave me a flyer about your piss-ass business on my kitchen table.

2

OK how can I set up my computer to keep dialing these toll free mumbers continously throughout the day, maybe give the opperator an ear full of modem squalking?

3

I imagine that even if someone did post a way to do this, it would quickly be removed by a mod… I have a feeling such things might be frowned upon here…

Is there nothing that your cell provider can do?

4

Eh, I occasionally filter through my Spam folder for 1-800 numbers. Unfortunately, while most spam-senders don’t give a crap where their messages go, they’re too cheap to spring for connection outside of the U.S., meaning I can’t phone them. :frowning:

Even when they’re not, they’re usually just a call centre, and claim to have no control over the spam. I usually try to get a manager, then hang up. (course then they have my phone #, which makes me paranoid in different ways)

P.S. - if you’re really really interested in pursuing this, and have a hope in hell of tracking the msg, you can sometimes sue under anti-fax advertising laws. YMMV, IANAL.
P.P.S. - I’m always willing to donate vowels in support of fucking.

5

I have a very simple and easy solution: Get rid of your cell phone.

6

I just got one of those yesterday for the first time. What’s the deal with that? Somebody better put a stop to that. I know it’s only $0.02, but it’s ridiculous that I’m forced to pay for their spam. I can’t figure out anyway to avoid it.

7

Some info on cell phone spam:
http://www.proservetech.com/proservetech/server/news.asp?dater=14
http://www.consumer-action.org/English/library/frauds_scams/2003_Telemarketing_fraud/index.php

Federal law prohibits marketing through means where the recipient must pay-- this includes cell phones and the messaging service you describe. If I were you, I’d make note of the date and time of the message, its content, and the sender, and then complain to the proper authorities.
Payton’s Servant, I’d hate to see how you’d cure dandruff or jock itch.

8

Why the hell she he do that?

I just started getting spam on my phone too, fuck these people.

9

Call your cell provider.

Even if you get a call center, they should have ways of telling you what you need to do in order to get it stopped.

Find out if text messaging/short message service is an unspoken part your rate plan. If it is, find out if it’s required for the voice mail service to work (it is with Nextel). If it is not, get rid of it. Immediately. If it is, explain (in a calm and professional manner, of course) what is going on. The call center can - and will - help you, provided you do not hold that representative personally responsible for the spam, the fall of Rome, your divorce, your impotence, and your dog getting run over fifteen years ago. Otherwise, you just stress them out needlessly, put their backs up, and why shoot the messenger?

Whatever you do, though, do NOT erase those messages until you’ve spoken with your company’s representative first. That used to irritate me, people calling up to complain about spam, but then having it erased so we couldn’t contact the sender and tell them to cease and desist. If, for some reason, you find that you absolutely must, write them down. The company will not be able to send a cease and desist notice to the spammer if there’s no information.

See if they have any “package” deals for receiving text messages (getting a three hundred for two dollars or something). If they do (and you receive a LOT of them), ask them to put that on, instead of the “pay as you go” version, for x amount of months, and see if they’ll give you a credit for that same amount of time - that way, you’re not paying for it. One month, two month, whatever.

If they claim to not have a method for the customer to have it stopped, go up the ladder. Try talking to the department that handles the wireless web for your phone.

And a lot of times, the call center operator you speak to (who really does NOT have any control over that) will be willing to give you a credit for that on your most recent bill (and x amount of months back).

Or at least, I do. Did. Will did? :smiley:

10

Well, I don’t have either of those afflictions so I don’t have to worry or care about curing them.

Problem solved.

11

Fine. It apparently must be explained:

The best of solutions work to improve the situation without introducing more problems. In this case, the best solution would mean finding a way for kanicbird to continue owning a cell phone but not get ads sent to his/her phone.

See, kanicbird has a cell phone. You can make some safe assumptions about this: that he/she owns it willingly, and that he/she receives some benefit from owning one. Now, while your solution of getting rid of the phone altogether would indeed eliminate the problem of the ads, it would also deny him/her those benefits and whatever pleasure he/she receives from owning a cell phone. No longer having a cell phone may also cause inconveniences. So because your solution may lead to a different set of problems, it is not a good solution.

Solving the problem at hand does not always equal a good solution.

Was that clear? Do you understand now?

Maybe you didn’t understand my comment about curing dandruff and jock itch. If you didn’t, I’d be happy to explain that to you, too. Just let me know.

12

There ARE things you can do to combat junk faxes, if you’re willing to, say, go to small claims court over it. (As an added bonus, it’s possible to collect triple damages, up to $1500. Makes me wish I had a fax machine.) A good site is http://www.junkfax.org/index.html .

As for the SMS issue, I’ve yet to see any advice that actually tells how to STOP SMS spam. The various credit-getting ideas seem to be the best to me, though.

13

Don’t like the commercials, turn off the tv. Don’t like the spam, get rid of the phone. You’d be amazed at how much the whole thing sucks, ads or not.
Hang up, wherever you are a pay phone can’t be that far away. You’ll only make the calls you want and you can look around a little and see the world… rather than walking down the sidewalk looking at a 2" by 2" screen.

Eh… pointless… I know. I’ll go away now.

14

Umm, for some of us, our cell phone is our only phone. I’ve been in that situation before, and hope to be again, soon. Why should I pay for local phone service when I can go mobile and get free long distance for another $15 a month. Also, I live in New Mexico, where it’s a long-ass walk if you break down somewhere, so my cell gives me some peace of mind.

So far the spam isn’t a problem for me. I did receive one… in Spanish. I’m “el ganador.” Go me!

15

Yeah, clayton_e is totally correct. Take my situation, for example. Towns here are rarely more than 30km apart, so it’s not like you’d have to walk more than 15km on average to get to a pay phone. Sure, that might seem like a hardship in even your regular -20C winter weather, let alone -40 with the wind chill kicking into overdrive, but it’s not like you’d have to walk the whole way.

Some kind farm family would be happy to call a tow truck for you. Just walk cross-country towards the lights until something bites you. That’s the dog who guards the fuel tanks. When Mr. Farmer comes out to see what it’s chewing on, he’ll be glad to put down his shotgun and help you into the house.

Or you could just stay within an area where there’s a pay phone on every other corner and “see the world”.

16

It’s simply amazing how some people have no conception that other people might have actual, good reasons for doing something different.

17

Don’t turn this into some cell phones are evil bullshit.

When they send a spam message it’s like a telemarketer calling you collect at home, that’s what pisses me off.

18

I have big problems with spam on my mobile phone - but over here in the UK, I’m being charged 86p for each piece of junk they send me. There is nothing I can do about it but note down the number, call my phone provider (on a peak rate line) and have them block the spammer. So far it’s cost me over £30.

I do need a mobile phone. I have a young daughter, and I am unwilling to stay in my house the entire time she’s at school just so that the school can contact me if she’s taken ill. I like to go to the gym, the shops, to see friends, etc, and on weekends I often go out, and also need to be contactable. I may be able to call other people from pay phones, but they can’t call me.