Online marketers have always tried to get your email address. As more and more people go mobile, however, marketers want your cell numbers. Text message advertising is already happening and more of us are able to check our text messages while at work, if not our personal emails too.

What You Need to Know How to Protect Yourself.

1) You Subscribe, You Pay. Hidden Charges are Almost Always Present. Online scams are usually quite simple. You should notice that any application that you get involved with is only a few steps and before you know it, you’ve given them contact info in order to subscribe for the service. If it’s your name and email, it’s not a big deal, as long as you don’t mind spam. If it’s your cell number, you’ll probably be paying for the incoming text messages you receive from the scammer. Even though you don’t realize it when registering, the Crush Calculator will actually send you daily horoscopes at a cost of $1.25 every weekday. That’s an average of $25/month, per user for a daily horoscope.

2) Mobile Companies Will NOT Help You. They Make Money From These ‘Legal’ Scams. Normally, they only charge the sender when a text is sent. In these cases, they apply a charge, keep a large percentage and send the rest as a payment to the service provider. They don’t mind either. They’ll tell you that they can’t monitor everything because you might actually want weather reports or 411 information. So, as long as these scam sites follow the next point, you’ll have to pay your mobile service provider or risk losing your service.

3) The Fine Print Usually Isn’t That Fine. Just Scroll Down. To keep these scams legal, online marketers have to provide you with details regarding what type of service you’re subscribing to, how much you’ll be charged and when. This text has to be visible but can be predominantly below the fold (requiring you to scroll down to actually read it).

4) The MOST Important Thing. One thing will almost always happen - it’s this that should set off warning bells – to activate these scams, you’re required to send a PIN number in by text message or to validate your subscription by entering a confirmation number that you receive from them on a site. If you are required to enter or send a PIN anywhere, think twice before not checking the details of your subscription.

Good Luck,

Sean Morrow