Watch Out For Mobile Hoaxes

[David McNamee]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.telstra.com.au/mobile/life/wireless/hoaxes.htm' target='_blank'>http://www.telstra.com.au/mobile/life/wireless/hoaxes.htm</a><br /><br /></div>Well, it was bound to happen. Give people a form of communication, and some wise-acre will come up with a scam. I expect the ancients would randomly find a piece of papyrus bearing the hand-scrawled message, "pass this on to five other people and win a cruise on a Phoenician merchant ship." Geekzone points out that some customers on Telestra's network have received text messages that promise a month's free SMS service for forwarding the message on to eight other people. This is obviously a hoax, but Telestra has responded by posting a page of <a href="http://www.telstra.com.au/mobile/life/wireless/hoaxes.htm">mobile phone hoaxes</a> and rumors. Other hoaxes listed on the site: Dialing 90# allows another person to access your mobile service via your SIM card Answering a call displaying the ID '!?UNAVAILABLE !?' will damage your mobile phoneI'm sure that there are some people that fall for these things. They're not Thoughts readers, of course :wink: What sort of rumors or hoaxes have you heard?

[randalllewis]

Did you know that phones with the advanced locator service (my old Sprint Sanyo 4500 had it) can do more than help emergency service providers know your location. The mouthpiece can be remotely turned on by "the government" and your conversation overheard even while not using the phone. Kind of like a bug in your pocket or car. 8O

This was the story I was told by a rather Luddite co-worker of mine.