Bulk SMS and fake texting hits spotlight in India

Fake texting, the dark art very well known to anyone who’s spent five minutes with a chap from a mobile aggregator, has been continuing to hit the headlines in India. Indeed, so much so, that Yahoo News reports that two high profile lawsuits depend on mystery texts.

Allowing almost anyone to set the originator address when they send text messages is a huge, huge potential problem. It always has been — however it’s oft been controlled by smart aggregators who won’t allow you to set dynamic originators (i.e. so I can send a text message to your girlfriend’s mobile and set the originator field as your mobile number.) but in the past years, more and more companies have been competing to offer this facility by default.

Link: SMS alert: Beware of fake messages – Yahoo! India News

The practice of fraudulent SMS texts has intensified so much that two unresolved high-profile lawsuits are more or less hinging on the mystery of SMS texts.

An hour before his death, Rizwanur Rehman had texted his father-in-law, telling him that he would leave a letter. This and few of the preceding texts have formed the crux of the case that is still shrouded in mystery.

Even Pravin Mahajan’s death threat SMS message to his brother Pramod was considered concrete proof of a motive for murder. But an expert, Rajesh Kumar’s testimony proved that just about anyone could have sent that text to Pramod Mahajan.

But sending fraudulent SMS messages is so simple that it is downright scary.

Googling “Bulk SMS” will bring forth a slew of results, several of them pointing to websites that will permit any user to send text messages to anyone’s cellphone. What is a cause for serious concern is that these websites do not verify their users – users are free to pose as just about anyone.