Spam invasion targets mobile phones
If you thought your spam problems couldn't get any worse, check your mobile phone.
Cell phones are becoming the latest target of electronic junk mail, with a growing number of marketers using text messages to target subscribers.
Mobile phone spam has yet to approach anything like the volume of the e-mail variety, but the problem is growing in a region where the average user sends as many as 10 SMS (short message service) messages a day.
"SMS spam is certainly something that people are focusing on, particularly in markets like Japan where it is a common problem," said Jeff Bullwinkel, a spokesman for Microsoft Corp, which is spearheading a worldwide anti-spam campaign. "It's big in markets where mobile communications are prevalent."
Mobile phone companies were reluctant to talk about the trend, but evidence of the problem abounded on the Web site of NTT DoCoMo, Japan's biggest mobile phone company.
