Spam SMSs from M1

While sipping a cup of Joe and flipping through the SMSs that I received. I couldn’t help to notice the large amount of spam SMSs I received. Well, partially those spam SMSs are of my own fault, you know when you fill in a form and they asked for your mobile number, apparently in Singapore they use the number and sell it to the sales people. Lesson learnt, never share your mobile number to strangers.

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But some of them are coming from M1, my mobile provider. I really don’t like it. How do I know they come from M1? Easy, I noticed in my iPhone, the senders are CapitaLand, NTUCIncome, Visa, Timberland, and so on. I never put those entities numbers in my phone book, but amazingly my phone is able to display the names. With a little help from M1 of course. These entities are using an SMS gateway provider, and an SMS gateway must be registered with the telecom provider in order to work.

Examples of the SMSs I received.

From CapitaLand:
Vote & Win! CapitaLand & Nat Geo invite you to visit www.capitaland.com/ngc-photo to vote for your favourite Capitaland building photos & stand to win prizes. You can also visit the voting booth @ Funan DigitalLife Mall from 23/7 to 29/7. T&C apply. Unsub SMS UNADVCM to 97420594

From Visa:
wave and go with Visa payWave to get your meal upsized for free when you purchase a Tendergrill Chicken Value Meal at BURGER KING. valid from 11am onwards, 14 june to 25 july 2012. T&C apply. To unsub, sms UNVISA1 to 97420594.

From Timberland:
Up to 50% off at our End of Season Sale! Flash SMS to get addn’l 15% off final bill @ all Timberland stores excl. IMM & Changi NOW till 10 June. T&C apply. To unsub, sms UNADVTB to 97420594.

From NTUCIncome (Got the same SMS several times a day):
To find out how you can make a difference to your career visit NTUC Income booth@ Suntec hall 404 on 23-25 Mar. Unsub SMS UNAGENT to 97420594.

To find out how you can make a difference to your career visit NTUC Income booth@ Suntec hall 404 on 23-25 Mar. Unsub SMS UNAGENT to 97420594.

I have tried to unsubscribe to 97420594 for some of the SMS alerts in vain. It seems I keep getting spam SMSs from this certain SMS gateway number. Probably the unsubscribe option is never there. It is just written there to adhere to some compliance rule.

I wonder whether this is one of M1’s strategy to add up to it’s coffer. Yes, M1 has a cheaper data plan than other mobile providers such as Singtel, or Starhub, the contracts are reasonable, I am never over charged, there is no mysterious service suddenly appearing in your bill, and you do have this facility to talk freely with five of your friends as long as they also use M1. But it annoys me, cluttering my attention from SMSs which are really important and I need to do a periodic clean up to my inbox.

I wonder whether this is legal in Singapore by law. I know it is illegal in Singapore if a provider charges mobile users without their consent or notice. Occasionally I read in the news, Singtel got sued several millions, for such cases. Should I do a legal action? LOL, I don’t think I want to go that far though.

I never received such SMS spams when I was still subscribing to Starhub. I am perfectly fine if M1 politely asked me up front whether I want to receive advertisements, or news updates. But the current situation is annoying, I even cannot unsubscribe.

I am thinking of filtering those spam SMSs from my phone. Or does anyone how to contact M1 and to tell it to stop? My wife is telling me just to ignore them. One thumb down for M1. I hope someone from M1 is reading this.


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