For the crooks operating skimmers on gas pumps, ATMs, or retail credit card terminals, an important part of their business model is getting the data from the devices. One way around this problem is to integrate a SIM card and have the device send text messages with the freshest payment card numbers. For the first time, such a device was found inside a gas pump. [More]
text messages
AT&T Customers Can Now Use Amazon’s Alexa To Send Text Messages
By 11.17.16
Amazon is adding another feature to make life easier for Echo users, well, at least those with AT&T wireless plans: AT&T customers can now tell Alexa to send text messages. [More]
Butterball Help Line Now Lets Customers Text Questions
By 10.31.16
Three years after Butterball revolutionized its Turkey Talk help line by adding male operators for the first time, the company is once again revamping how it helps those cooking a turkey for the big holiday: not talking to them at all. Rather, they’ll be texting. [More]
Care.com Can’t Explain Why People Keep Texting Me To Babysit Their Kids
By 7.29.16
We’ve all gotten wrong-number calls and texts; some of us have even been on the receiving end of repeated wrong-number calls looking for the same person. But Consumerist reader Ed wants to know why his phone number is listed — twice — as a babysitter on Care.com, even though he’s (A) not a babysitter, and (B) never had an account with the site. [More]
Walmart Eye Care Employee Allegedly Sent Illicit Texts To Customers
By 3.21.16
A St. Louis woman who took her glasses in for repairs at an eye care clinic inside a local Walmart got more than she bargained for: pornographic photos of the store’s clerk. [More]
Two Men Arrested In Multimillion-Dollar Text Message Fraud Scheme
By 9.15.15
When you receive a spam text, you just ignore the message and delete the text, right? Sure, but it’s also a good idea to check your upcoming phone bills, since the service that sent the text may also be cramming unwanted charges on your phone bills. Two more people involved in such a scheme that ran from 2011 to 2013 were charged yesterday in federal court. [More]
Lawsuit Alleges Uber Is Spamming Consumers With Illegal Texts
By 8.11.15
The concept of ride-sharing service Uber is built around consumers’ use of mobile phones: the company sends text messages confirming the creation of an account, users hail a cab through the company’s app, and the company routinely informs customers their ride is on the way via text. While this may be convenient for Uber customers, a new lawsuit claims Uber is violating federal law by sending unsolicited texts to people who want nothing to do with the service. [More]
Judge Denies Class-Action Status For Lawsuit Filed By Former iPhone User Over Lost Texts
By 8.5.15
A former iPhone user who sued Apple last May claiming she lost text messages when she switched to an Android phone won’t be able to get class-action status for her lawsuit. [More]
Forget Listening To That Voicemail, Soon Siri Might Transcribe It For You
By 8.3.15
In an age of instant messaging and e-mail, some people still prefer to pick up a phone and leave a voicemail. But for the growing number of consumers who are voicemail-averse, Apple is testing out a new voice-text hybrid. [More]
Millions Of Spam Text Messages Lead To $4.2 Million Fine
By 6.12.14
Everyone loves getting a $1,000 gift card to their favorite store, but promises of that kind, especially those in text format, are generally a scam. At least that was the case for millions of consumers who received text messages from marketing scammers promising free gift cards to Walmart, Target, Best Buy and other retailers. [More]
Man’s Revenge On Shady Internet Seller: Texting Him The Complete Works Of Shakespeare
By 3.18.14
When it’s not practical (or legal) to unseam someone who’s done you wrong from the nave to the chops, why not use Shakespeare’s words as weapons a bit less literally? A man who says an Internet seller ripped him off by not delivering the goods after he’d paid him used the Bard himself for revenge by way of a whole lot of texts. [More]
FTC: Spammers Responsible For Millions Of ‘Free Gift Card’ Text Messages To Pay $2.5M
By 2.18.14
You did not win a free $1,000 gift card like that text message tells you. It’s a scam, and the companies behind it are now paying million of dollars in settlements. [More]
FTC Settles With Spammer Who Sent Millions Of Deceptive Texts
By 2.5.14
Junk mail and e-mail spam are annoying enough, but text message spam can be truly aggravating. Not only is it pointless, but also, depending on your phone plan, you may get charged for the privilege of having to delete scummy, scammy links. [More]
Why Anyone Would Send Texts Via Perfectly Drinkable Vodka Is Unclear — But Hey, Science
By 12.20.13
We’ve heard of sending text messages while using vodka (and we do not recommend it, unless you love feeling stupid the next day) and boozy breath in your face sends quite another very clear message. But actually using vodka in its evaporated form to send a text message? That just sounds wacky. Oh, hello, wacky scientists. [More]
Report: Cops Want Wireless Carriers To Save Text Messages, You Know, Just In Case
By 12.4.12
That thing you texted to that person the other night which you deleted out of overwhelming shame the next day? Messages like that could be pored over in the future by cops if various law enforcement officials have their way. They’re reportedly asking Congress to make wireless carriers record and store customers’ private text messages for at least two years, in case police need that info for a future investigation. [More]
Text Message Use Falls For The First Time: Let’s All Freak Out Asking “What’s Next?!?”
By 11.13.12
In the realm of technology, as soon as something new hits the market, it’s probably already old and the next big thing is already in the works to replace it. So even though we’ve been obsessed with text messages for a very long time, at the first sign of any kind of weakening of that medium’s power, it’s natural to ask “What’s next?” Text messaging rates are down on average for the first time ever, which might be a sign that we’re finally moving on. [More]
Text Message Plans From AT&T: Now Unlimited Or Nothing
By 7.25.12
Between Apple’s iMessage platform for iPhones and the other ways that smartphone users can avoid the SMS system (think Google Voice) text message volume through AT&T must be dropping. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be trying to lock customers in to one of two plans: paying twenty or thirty cents per message, or paying $20 for unlimited text messages. The plans offering blocks of 200 or 1500 texts once available to customers are gone: no longer an option. [More]
