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Junk texts cost a bundle

It took an expensive mobile phone bill for a man surnamed Hsu (許) to realize how much he was actually paying when responding to an advertisement with a text message.

Hsu saw a TV commercial saying that he could buy a Nintendo Wii for just NT$199. Following the instructions in the commercial, he pressed 55987 to get the numbers in a text message.

Since then, Hsu has received three to five messages a day asking questions like, "What will happen when you start playing Wii?"

At first, Hsu just found the junk messages annoying and simply deleted them. Later, however, he found that he was actually being charged NT$10 for each junk message he received, and that added an additional NT$600 to his mobile phone bill.

Hsu is only one of thousands of customers who have fallen for such schemes.

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Huang Wei-cher (黃偉哲) said in a press conference yesterday that the telecom service providers have allowed advertisers to provide their services or mass distribute campaign messages through the text-messaging service, which is called value-added text-messaging service.

Huang said that the service includes allowing mobile phone users to download ringtones and icons or join prize draws.

While the service has been in operation for three years, few mobile phone users actually know that these text message can cost up to NT$30 each. Moreover, the fees accumulated through the text message exchange are all paid by the users.

"Consumers must be adequately informed about the service plan and the costs, as well as the steps to accept or reject the invitations to join the service," Huang said. "They can no longer lure the customers into a trap with vague wording and tricky statements."

Representatives from the Consumer Protection Commission (CPC), the National Communications Commission (NCC) and the nation's major telecom companies also attended yesterday's press conference.

Reviewing the text messages Hsu received, CPC consumer ombudsman Chang Chia-lin (張嘉麟) said the advertisers clearly did not disclose complete information about the program, including how and when the consumers would be charged.

If the invitation text message fails to provide crucial information to customers, service providers might be charged with making false advertising statements and turned over to the Fair Trade Commission.

Chang also reminded customers they can choose to not subscribe to the service when they fill in their mobile phone service applications.

NCC representative Liang Wen-hsing (梁溫馨) said yesterday that it became aware of the issue in August, when the commission started receiving 40 to 50 consumer complaints a day.

Liang said the commission would schedule a meeting with mobile service providers next week to better understand the situation.

Telecom company representatives, on the other hand, have all agreed that they are willing to return the money to their customers if it is proven that the text messages they receive contain misleading or unclear statements.
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