November 2004
Spam Text Messaging Firm in the Can
The Independent Committee for The Supervision of Standards of Telephone Information Services (ICSTIS) has fined PRS Communications for £100,000 and banned it from running competitions for a year for sending mobile phone users thousands of unsolicited text messages stating that recipients had won a competition.
To claim their prize, recipients had to phone a premium-rate phone number.
It all went wrong for the company when Richard Blackwood reported it to ICSTIS on receiving a text message. ICSTIS found that PRS had breached its code of practice and has also told the company to give refunds to all those who complained about its call charges.
A helpful ICSTIS spokesperson pointed out that, "If you haven't entered a competition, you haven't won one" which was preceded with the eminently sensible comment that "No one is going to give you £2,000 for nothing."
BRIFFA Comment:
Unsolicited text messages are unlawful and should be reported to ICSTIS which has shown itself to have teeth.