SPAMMING AND SCAMMING - MOBILE PHONE CONS

You've won! - But claiming your prize can be a costly business

Have you ever received a text message congratulating you on a cash prize win? If you have, you're not alone.

Join Inside Out as we expose a telephone network which provides a platform for bogus companies to cash in on premium rate lines.

Owners of mobile telephones across the country have been inundated by unwanted text messages informing them they have won £400.

To collect, all they had to do was call an 0906 number - but the call cost more than £7.50 and there was no cash prize at the end.

It's known as spamming and scamming.

Stop the spam

Darren Platt, Director of Nexus Telecommunications has been fined for misuse of premium rate lines

Darren Platt, a director of Nexus Telecommunications, has been fined on at least two occasions in the past 18 months by the Independent Committee for the Supervision of Standards of Telephone Information Services (ICSTIS), the premium rate line regulator, for spamming and scamming.

Because of Darren Platt's failure to stop companies using his network's premium rate lines responsibly, Nexus Telecommunications runs the risk of losing its operator's licence.

Inside Out traced some of these unwanted text messages to Z Max Phone Services of Bournemouth and KT Promotions of Cheltenham.

Both companies have been sending out text messages telling people they have won a huge cash prize.

Details of the companies' addresses were supplied by Nexus to the regulator. But when we visited the addresses, they proved to be false.

The contact telephone number for Z Max Phone Services was also the same for KT Promotions.

A breach of guidelines

ICSTIS director George Kidd says Mr Platt has breached the guidelines both as a service provider and a network operator.

Chris Packham hangs on and on. Calls can take up to five minutes and can cost as much £7.50. but there is seldom a big cash prize

"It's a problem if you have an individual who has been involved as a service provider, who knows how it works," explains Mr Kidd.

"And then as a network operator is prepared to allow other people to do the same thing which he knows is intolerable to us because he has been prosecuted for the very same offence."

Mr Kidd continues, "When it comes to Darren Platt, who has been operating these services, and is also a network operator, the phrase "should have known better" comes to mind."

Confrontation

When Inside Out confronted Mr Platt, he said he was trying to stop spamming and scamming on Nexus lines.

He refused to reveal who is behind Z Max Phone Services and other bogus companies because of "client confidentiality".

Mr Platt said he was not responsible for the content of the lines.

Most telephone numbers beginning 0906 are perfectly legitimate. But if you are concerned, you can complain about a premium rate telephone line at the regulator's website www.icstis.org.uk