Alert! SMS alert

"SMS [this code] to [this number]", they say. What they don't often say is how much that SMS is going to cost.

One of my friends has recently discovered a potentially rather expensive yet legal scam in the UAE. Quoting him:

"...take care with those 'Stop receiving SMS by texting (a 4 digit number)' messages - Etisalat will charge you up to 30dhs for the privilege! Most orchestrated by a 'ghost' company in DIC (Cellhub Ltd) whose number doesn't work and whose web presence is empty - the word 'collusion' comes to mind...

and

"...and to find out who owns any of these mysterious 4 digit numbers you have to call another Etisalat number - charged at 3dhs a minute - they'll initially hang straight up (to bank 3dhs) and if you're daft (or annoyed) enough to call back, they'll keep you on for an average of 8 mins (yes, tried it!) and then tell you they can't help and you should call 101 (the guys who told you to call them originally!) - geez - and all this is legal!"

I've not been able to verify the above claims independently, but please beware.

All services offering SMS communications that cost the user a premium (radio stations, advertisers, etc) should be required to state every time precisely how much the message is going to cost.

]}:-{>