SMS spam now in New Zealand

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freitasm

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#31243 10-Mar-2009 11:14

And so it begins. My wife just received a SMS spam this morning:

From: +61447100250
Tired of dropped calls, poor signal or static? Goto [spammer url] for a special Vodafone users offer! To opt-out, reply with the word 'UNSUBSCRIBE'

She never subscribed in first place and this is nothing but spam. I hope this company stops selling these "antenna boosters" soon and close the doors.

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#200322 10-Mar-2009 11:18

I would imagine John will be in here soon wanting more details and will do something about said spammer...

ajobbins

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#200323 10-Mar-2009 11:19

How long before your phones message software has built in spam filters and a SPAM folder?

nate

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#200327 10-Mar-2009 11:20

freitasm:
From: +61447100250

Interesting how it's out of Australia, the couple of SMS spam messages I've received have been out of the UK.

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#200328 10-Mar-2009 11:20

Aussies are being targetted as well here

xurizaemon

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#200329 10-Mar-2009 11:21

Got the same spam yesterday evening here.
http://forum.vodafone.co.nz/index.php?showtopic=1804 has their address and contact details.
UGH.

paradoxsm

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#200330 10-Mar-2009 11:22

oh yes, I must check if they replied to my email regaring "the list they obtained my number from", if not, I have a nicely pre-written blog post ready. ;-)

I'm getting them on 027 too but a different wording.

By the way, the "product" has been tested and did absolutely nothing except jam up the battery contacts.

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freitasm

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#200334 10-Mar-2009 11:26

Ok, not limited to Vodafone then. Without a questions idiot spammers nonetheless.

I hope Vodafone and/or Telecom go after those guys. I thought "antenna boosters" were illegal in New Zealand.

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#200335 10-Mar-2009 11:29

paradoxsm: By the way, the "product" has been tested and did absolutely nothing except jam up the battery contacts.

You must have got a fake one.

(To quote their FAQ)

I have bought those before and they do not work at all. Because it can be hard to tell which ones are real over the Internet, it is a good idea to go with the trusted and tested sites. So make sure if you decide to purchase Antenna Booster elsewhere, don't get the fake ones.

xurizaemon

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#200338 10-Mar-2009 11:31

paradoxsm: oh yes, I must check if they replied to my email regaring "the list they obtained my number from", if not, I have a nicely pre-written blog post ready. ;-)

Good plan. Here's my enquiry to info@antennabooster.co.nz:

To whom it may concern

Unsolicited commercial messaging, whether SMS or email, is illegal in New Zealand and carries heavy fines for offenses. The Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act 2007 requires that electronic messages are only sent to customers who have consented to receipt.

Please provide documentation of my consent to receive your SMS of 2009-03-09, which said

"Tired of dropped calls, poor signal or static? Goto www.AntennaBooster.co.nz for a special Vodafone users offer! To opt-out, reply with the word 'UNSUBSCRIBE'"

I look forward to your reply.

Chris Burgess +6421xxxxxxx

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#200342 10-Mar-2009 11:42

I'll chase this up with our guys... not sure what we can do as they appear to operate out of Australia, but happy to do what we can to stop them. It looks to me to be a breach of NZ's anti-spam laws and I'd suggest it's a breach of Australia's as well, but I'm not sure what the Aussie law says about spamming internationally.

Cheers

Paul

Paul Brislen
Head of Corporate Communications
Vodafone

http://forum.vodafone.co.nz

xurizaemon

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#200345 10-Mar-2009 11:45

Thanks Paul - much appreciated.
Others: if you get this SMS, you can forward it to 7726 (SPAM) to report it to the DIA (who are www.antispam.govt.nz), then visit this page.

http://complaints.antispam.govt.nz/SMSComplaint.aspx

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freitasm

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#200346 10-Mar-2009 11:45

PaulBrislen: I'll chase this up with our guys... not sure what we can do as they appear to operate out of Australia, but happy to do what we can to stop them. It looks to me to be a breach of NZ's anti-spam laws and I'd suggest it's a breach of Australia's as well, but I'm not sure what the Aussie law says about spamming internationally.

Cheers

Paul

Thanks Paul.

The company website information shows:

Users confirm on submission their agreement to all published Terms
Query Time/Date	11:45, 10/3/2009
Domain Name	antennabooster.co.nz
Status	Active
Date Registered	11:26, 4/2/2009
Date Billed Until	11:26, 4/2/2011
Date Last Modified	11:26, 4/2/2009
Include in DNS?	yes

Registrar Name	Domain Directors (www.instra.co.nz)
Registrar Address1	PO Box 988
Registrar City	Melbourne
Registrar Province	Victoria
Registrar Postalcode	3199
Registrar Country	AU (AUSTRALIA)
Registrar Phone	+61 3 39783-1800
Registrar Fax	+64 7 39783-6844
Registrar Email	admin@instra.co.nz

Registrant Contact Name	Brendan Battles
Registrant Contact Address1	B201, 525 East Coast Road Browns Bay Northshore
Registrant Contact City	Auckland
Registrant Contact Province	Northshore
Registrant Contact Postalcode	0630
Registrant Contact Country	NZ (NEW ZEALAND)
Registrant Contact Phone	+64 94 780286
Registrant Contact Fax	+64 94 780369
Registrant Contact Email	brendan@imagemarketing.co.nz

Admin Contact Name	Brendan Battles
Admin Contact Address1	B201, 525 East Coast Road Browns Bay Northshore
Admin Contact City	Auckland
Admin Contact Province	Northshore
Admin Contact Postalcode	0630
Admin Contact Country	NZ (NEW ZEALAND)
Admin Contact Phone	+64 94 780286
Admin Contact Fax	+64 94 780369
Admin Contact Email	brendan@imagemarketing.co.nz

Technical Contact Name	Brendan Battles
Technical Contact Address1	B201, 525 East Coast Road Browns Bay Northshore
Technical Contact City	Auckland
Technical Contact Province	Northshore
Technical Contact Postalcode	0630
Technical Contact Country	NZ (NEW ZEALAND)
Technical Contact Phone	+64 94 780286
Technical Contact Fax	+64 94 780369
Technical Contact Email	brendan@imagemarketing.co.nz

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LennonNZ

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#200349 10-Mar-2009 11:48

Ah..

Mr Battles sticks his head up again with spamming....

I'm already onto it :-)

domain_name: antennabooster.co.nz
registrant_contact_name: Brendan Battles
registrant_contact_address1: B201, 525 East Coast Road Browns Bay Northshore
registrant_contact_city: Auckland
registrant_contact_province: Northshore
registrant_contact_postalcode: 0630
registrant_contact_country: NZ (NEW ZEALAND)
registrant_contact_phone: +64 94 780286
registrant_contact_fax: +64 94 780369
registrant_contact_email: brendan@imagemarketing.co.nz

Thanks

VFNZPaulBrislen

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#200351 10-Mar-2009 11:49

Oh, Brendan Battles...!

now it all becomes clear.

He claims to no longer be in the spam business. Had quite a run in with him a few years ago at CW:

Spam King sets up in NZ

An unsolicited bulk email campaign for broadband and telephone calling rates may have flushed out a notorious US spammer from a low-profile existence in Auckland. Contacted by Computerworld, Brendan Battles of Auckland denies that he is the same person as US spammer Brendan Battles. He also denies spamming in New Zealand, even though Computerworld rang him on a number supplied in one of the spam messages.

and then:

Web Developers Assn hires spammer

The Web Developers Association of New Zealand (WDANZ) is off to a shaky start after CEO Dennis Smith revealed he has employed notorious US spammer Brendan Battles to help sell the service.

So...

any journos out there?

cheers

Paul

Paul Brislen
Head of Corporate Communications
Vodafone

http://forum.vodafone.co.nz

LennonNZ

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#200355 10-Mar-2009 11:53

http://www.spam.co.nz/bbattles.html

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