Received the following unsolicated text message on February 6, 2011 at 4:15am EST from: 617-818-7654
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Claim your laptop now while supplies last! Tell us where to ship it to you!
DO NOT reply "stop" to ANY of these messages !!!!!!!!!!!!!! Do NOTHING AT ALL.
A reply of ANY KIND, whether by text or calling and requesting to have your number removed does one thing, and one thing only...It CONFIRMS that your number is a working number, and their messages have been read, which on their end, means that their job has been done correctly...Annoyed, or not, they got through to a human, and their message has been read. That is exactly what they want.
JUST DELETE THE MESSAGE FROM YOUR PHONE and leave it at that, unless you want to take the time to:
1. Complain to your service provider, which might work if they get enough complaints, OR
2. Report them to the FCC, which takes a bit of time out of your day
***NONE of these are legitimate offers! I promise you, NOT ONE.
***If you do decide to call them, NEVER give them ANY personal information...NOTHING AT ALL...You will see that they try to get credit card or bank account info within 2 minutes of you calling...
*******THIS IS A RED FLAD FOR YOU, THEIR PREY******************************************
HERE IS AN EXAMPLE OF HOW THEY GET YOU:
I saw in one written complaint on another site, that the victim gave credit card account numbers to pay for a $2.99 entrance fee to a webite offering working from home and how to become a secret shopper, AND EVERY MONTH AFTER THAT THEY HAD A $19.99 FEE ON THEIR PHONE BILL, for which they could not get reimbursement.
LASTLY, if you know of any elderly persons who might fall prey to this, TELL THEM EVERYTHING IN THIS MESSAGE---They are sometimes out of the loop about these things. PROTECT THE UNINFORMED.
You will get a text telling you that a laptop is waiting for you. Call the number 1-617-818-7654 for you laptop or go to www.PC700.com this is a scam do not do either. Just delete the text. They are trying to find out if your phone number is a good one in use. You will get all kinds of scams after that if you let them find out your phone number is a good one in use.