FTC targets text message spamming

The Federal Trade Commission is cracking down on text message spam and has filed eight complaints against 29 defendants in courts around the U.S.

The agency said Thursday that the defendants bombarded consumers with more than 180 million text messages that often promised “free” $1,000 gift cards to popular retailers but then required consumers to pay for a subscription to a service, apply for credit or enter sensitive personal information before they could get their gift cards.

Many of the consumers who received the spam also had to pay for receiving the unwanted messages.

“The FTC is committed to rooting out this deception and stopping it,” the agency said in a statement. “For consumers who find spam texts on their phones, delete them, immediately. The of- fers are, in a word, garbage.”

The FTC said it is going after those who sent the spam as well as the operator of the deceptive websites. The agency said the operator, SubscriberBASE Holdings Inc., violated the FTC Act by not telling consumers about all the conditions attached to obtaining their “free” gift cards.

The spammers got paid by the website operator based on how many consumers they could get to enter information. The website operator was then paid by businesses that gained customers through the process.

In addition to the eight complaints, the FTC said it was also going after Phil Flora, who it said was a serial text message spammer. Flora was banned from sending spam texts in 2011, but the FTC is now accusing him of being a part of the latest text message scheme.