A new scheme to warn UK youths concerning the dangers of responding to spam text message was launched by the Office of Fair Trading. They sent out thousands of fake SMS messages to youths between the ages of 18 and 24 this was part of Spam Awareness Month.

OFT Director of consumer protection Mike Haley had this to say: “Young people can fall for exactly the same types of scam as anyone else, often delivered through the latest technology. We hope that our innovative approach of sending fake scam text messages will remind young consumers to be on their guard if they receive a suspicious offer”.

OFT’s fake message read: Urgent! U may have won £1k cash with ‘2 Good 2 B True’, and was quickly followed with a further message explaining the OFT ploy and to promote a new service named PhonepayPlus.

Source — theregister