Tata Teleservices ignores scamsters using its SMS services to offer bumper lotteries

Mobile phone users have, for a long time now, suffered the scourge of unsolicited calls/SMSs. Recently, Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee was interrupted during a debate in Parliament by one of these calls. But today, ingenious Nigerian scamsters have also started using SMSs to dupe gullible phone users through fraudulent bumper lotteries.

One Moneylife reader shared with us this experience. “I received an SMS from TD-demo account informing that I had won £50,000 in a lottery. I know this is a scam. Many of my friends have received such an SMS. After searching on the Internet, I found that many others have received similar messages from a TD account. TD is the operator code for Tata Teleservices, Delhi. I believe the Tata Tele account is being misused to send SMSs for scam activities. I have complained to Tata Teleservices on their website and also sent an email to the Cyber Cell of the Mumbai Police to take action against the account holder.”

As the SMS originates from the Tata Teleservices’ account, the operator would have a record that could help trace the culprits. A Tata Teleservices spokesperson advised that we send them the details so they could make inquiries.

The spokesperson described SMS marketing and spam as two different issues, saying, “SMS marketing is completely within the regulatory provisions set out by the authorities. Furthermore, if it is creating any trouble for any customer, it is the responsibility of each operator to protect its subscribers from unsolicited calls and SMSs under the DND (Do Not Disturb) provision.” However, the spokesperson did not say what measures Tata Teleservices was taking to stop the misuse of its services.

Only the other day, Mr Mukherjee was in the middle of a discussion in Parliament when he received a call on his mobile phone, with the caller offering him a loan. The minister was understandably irritated. The Indian government subsequently advised telecom operators to ban such unnecessary marketing calls and messages to mobile phones. The direction against unsolicited calls was issued through notices by the Supreme Court to companies such as Bharti Airtel, COAI and ICICI Bank and American Express.
 
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has also imposed a financial disincentive on eight service providers for non-compliance under the Telecom Unsolicited Commercial Communications Regulation, 2007. These companies are Vodafone Essar, Reliance Communications, Bharti Airtel, Tata Teleservices, Spice, BPL, MTNL and Aircel.
 
But this hasn’t helped, yet, to curb the harassment suffered by mobile phone users due to unsolicited commercial communication. (This is the term the TRAI uses for unwanted calls/SMSs.) For, it seems that the mobile phone operators are more interested in earning revenues.

The Tata Teleservices spokesperson told Moneylife, “Indian telecom operators have received acclaim for reworking the costs of telecom to reach out to the masses, and for becoming a driver of economic growth. A farmer in a village, or a fisherman, is today happy to receive SMSs about crop prices and information on the weather. Any other form of disbursement of information to the public would have cost a 100 times more.” There is no doubt about the benefits of telecommunications. But that doesn’t allow operators to flood customers’ handsets with unwanted, unnecessary messages.

The writer is a subscriber of Tata Indicom for seven years and has also been a victim of such unwanted SMSs and calls. Complaints were made on numerous occasions to Tata Indicom’s customer care department, the nodal officer, the national services head, even managing director Anil Sardana. Each time the complaint was made, Tata Indicom called saying that an inquiry was initiated into the matter and that notices had been sent to the operators involved. The company made no mention about calls and messages originating from Tata Indicom numbers or having its tags. Then every time, the calls/SMSs resumed with a vengeance.

One proposal to curb the menace is to make mobile operators pay for each marketing call/SMS. Vir Sanghvi, editorial director of the Hindustan Times, wrote recently that the customer must be compensated for receiving these commercial calls/SMSs. He suggested a payment of Rs10 for each call/SMS to customers within the country and a minimum of Rs50 for each call/SMS on international roaming.

The Tata Teleservices spokesperson appreciated the sentiment. “SMS marketing has been there since the very inception of the industry. It is unsolicited spam that is the scourge. Being a Tata Group company, we are totally committed to help curb spam and we propose that commercial penalties be levied on operators for unsolicited spam.”

(For more information on unwanted SMS/calls read Call Stall http://www.moneylife.in/article/76/2735.html)
— Yogesh Sapkale