The number of SMS spam messages sent to Britons grew 11% in the first three months of this year, recent data from Cloudmark shows. The solutions provider for communications service vendors attributed the rise to the unexpected increase in accident compensation scams.
SMS spam continues to spread despite the continuing crackdown and the introduction of more robust enforcement measures.
Figures from Cloudmark compiled for the GSM Association reveal that spam related to accident compensation accounts for 26% of all messaging spam, an increase from the 14% recorded in the fourth quarter of 2013. This growth nearly knocked the current spam category leader – payday loans – off the top spot, which has ranked highest in terms of SMS spam content since 2012.
Among the other spam threats revealed in the study are PPI compensation, debt relief and other products. The report suggests that betting spam content is gaining momentum, a trend that is likely to thrive around the upcoming sporting events such as the World Cup in Brazil, but is likely to disappear shortly afterwards.
Operators advise users to report all spam messages they receive by forwarding them to the 7726 service, where the spammer’s SIM identification number will be included entered into a database and then blocked. Another useful anti-spam solution is the increasingly popular white-listing apps for smartphones, which allow users to block numbers. Spam is unlikely to completely disappear anytime soon, Cloudmark says, but it could soon end up like the majority of desktop spam – filtered and blocked so it is unable to reach users.