Will handle “spam” messages

The Ministry of Information and Communications will tighten the management of text messages sent to mobile phones. This is to ensure the rights of phone users when every day there are many text messages with gambling, lottery, football betting, fortune telling and unreal prizes sent to mobile subscribers.

At the workshop on State management of electronic information held on the morning of April 28, Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Do Quy Doan said that the Ministry will coordinate with the Ministry of Public Security, the Vietnam Computer Emergency Response Center and other departments and branches to review and inspect mobile companies and technology enterprises to promptly detect and suspend the operations of enterprises and companies that send spam messages for profit. Establishments, companies and individuals who send spam messages to mobile subscribers will be punished according to the law, depending on the level of violation.

Delegates attending the workshop on State Management of Electronic Information.

The measure to tighten the management of messages sent to mobile phones will ensure the interests of the people, when recently, on April 26, the Inspectorate of the Ministry of Information and Communications, the Vietnam Computer Emergency Response Center and the Department of High-Tech Crime Prevention (C50), the Ministry of Public Security discovered a "nest" of large-scale spam messages in Hanoi. The subject spreading this huge amount of spam messages is EMOBI Company (34 Hoang Cau Street, Dong Da District, Hanoi) which used 5 Nokia 3110C phones connected to computers pre-installed with the software "SMS Carter" to spread up to 800 messages/hour.

The content of the spam messages are all related to fortune telling, gambling, and lottery to mobile phone subscribers, aiming to lure users to text to EMOBI's own 8x14 number.

Previously, on April 7, the interdisciplinary inspection team also discovered that VNNET Joint Stock Company (No. 17, Lane 167, Tay Son Street, Hanoi) used a GSM/GPRS/CDMA Modem device with a SIM installed and connected to a computer to broadcast "garbage" containing lottery results and advertisements for the company's own 8x32 numbers on an average of 3 times a week, each time spreading to about 20,000 mobile phone subscribers.

For each time a message is sent, if a customer is tricked into sending a message to these numbers, their account will be immediately deducted or they will be charged up to 15,000 VND/message.

To avoid losing money on spam messages, mobile network customers need to be vigilant against scams. Customers should absolutely not send messages to any 3 or 4 digit numbers in the form xxxx (6xxx, 7xxxx, 8xxxx...) if they do not need it.

According to VOV