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Battling SPAM MMS and SMS with Malaysia Telco

I am a loyal Maxis post paid user and thus I would like to share my experience battling with SPAM MMS and SMS from this company and others short code spammers that i encountered.

SPAM MMS from MAXIS

Don't know since when... sending SPAM has became a revenue stream for telco in Malaysia. For example, Maxis love to "broadcast" Movie trailer MMS to its users that have 3G enabled.

The Trick

Malaysia consumer is wellknown for loving Freebies and being ignorance on behalve of their consumer right. Remember that there is no free lunch in this world!

It is true that this piece of MMS junk is FREE to view. However, when my 3G phone automatically download it, Maxis bills me for the 3G data charge. It is a very smart way of marketing and yet stay in the gray area: Maxis never admit that these are the SPAM.

Solution 1

All you have to do is to proclaim your consumer right:

1. Call Maxis by dealing 123 to their customer service and then to extension 2 and then 8.
2. Complaint to the person on the line that you are very annoyed with their MMS.
3. They will teach you how to disable it through your phone:
   Easy Access -> Money -> Stocks -> Stock Watch -> Cancel
   (As a programmer, I have no idea why they setup the disable function there. Obviously, this is a very dumb interface design.)
4. And they will tell you to continue calling them if you still getting the MMS.
5. Trust me or not, you will still get those MMS even you have done all these.
6. Call Maxis by dealing 123 again when you get the next MMS.
7. Complaint to them loudly, louder than the previous time.
8. They will do all the stupid verification and tell you that they would file a case to "higher authority".
9. Less than 5 minute, the "higher authority" calls and tell me they need a week to turn this off from their side. She also told me that I can wave all related charges by calling them again.
10. I am waiting to see the result now... To Be Continue!

Solution 2

This method can't stop the MMS Spam but can avaoid being charge for the 3G data rate.

Just Turn OFF the automatically download MMS content features on your phone.

SMS from Shortcode

If you happens to live in Klang Valley like me, Pub and Disco here love to spam mobile users with their weekly promotion such as ladies night, bla bla bla. These are all bullshit to me.

Solution 1

The Maxis customer support staff teach me how to do it when I complaints to them.

1. Reply the SPAM SMS
2. Type "STOP ALL"
3. Send back to the number

This solution only work for certain number.

Again, i think this machanism is really stupid. It require a u ser to enter "STOP ALL" in uppercase letter. As a programmer, i know this is very simple task to accept any case character.I thought Maxis have hired most of the First Class Degree IT students?

Solution 2

Call for Maxis customer support to block SMS Spam. My bad experience with them is:

MAXIS Customer Support CAN NOT BLOCK SPAM from number above 6XXXXX.

When I ask for the reason, they recommend me to Subscribe their SPAM Blocker Service.

Why this is important

If all of us continue to ignore our consumer right, we will continue being bully by all these Telco. I have never experience such problem with vodafone in NZ before.

This particular company is eagerly looking for extra revenue stream. Nothing is much better and easier than "SPAMING" its largest customer group.

Imagine they have 1000 subscriped users in total. All they have to do is to "Broadcast" the MMS to these users and make money through the 3G data rate. Let it be 10% "smart users" who file the complaints (and yet willing to followup with all the hassle), they are already earning money from the rest of majority.

And yet they can easily get away with these on the law aspect as in they have already provide a machanism to the end user to "disable" this "features".

Fight for your right! We deserve a SPAM FREE mobile network!

Maxis Massage Plus

This can never be the solution while it still charges the consumer for stopping SPAM from its service provider and gangs.

Think of someone who injects virus to your body then charge you for the cure. 

Milestone

Date	Type	From/To	Title	Size
2008-08-13	Respone	Maxis 123	Call for support again to stop the spam SMS from 66555. The staff told me he is unable to block this number and all the other which are above 6xxxx. Then, I successfully blocked SPAM SMS from 22006. When I request to blocks all the MMS, he tolds me he can't block MMS & SMS from Maxis promotional too.	-
2008-08-13	Respone	66555	Sending STOP ALL command to 66555 but receive Error Message 'Unable to send message:66555'.
2008-08-13	SMS	Maxis	2Nite & 2Moro@BAR CELONA	-
2008-08-10	MMS	Maxis	Free MMS - Say Hello	75kb
2008-08-07	Response	Maxis 123	Complaints to STOP SPAM MMS, Maxis's Customer Support ask me to give them 1 week time to configure.	-
2008-08-07	MMS	Maxis	Free MMS - The Mummy 3	113kb
2008-08-06	SMS	66555	2Nite/Wed@BAR CELONA	-
2008-08-06	MMS	maxis@mms.maxis.net.my	Mgreetz, your personalized greeting for any occasi	100kb
2008-08-04	SMS	22006	FreeSMS. Get latest Olympics...	-
2008-07-31	SMS	66555	LADIES NITE 2NITE! Happy...	-
2008-07-31	MMS	Maxis	Free MMS - Work Moobs	124kb
2008-07-26	SMS	66555	2Nite@BARCEL...	-
2008-07-26	MMS	Maxis	Free MMS - Sex & The City Movie Review	112kb
2008-07-21	SMS	maxis	Have the lates...	-
2008-07-15	SMS	MaxisGift	Get your Maxis...	-
2008-07-14	SMS	MaxisGift	Maxis Rewards...	-
2008-07-14	SMS	maxis	Get a copy of NewMan	-
2008-07-14	MMS	Maxis	Free MMS - You're the best	93kb
2008-07-13	SMS	62002	13/07星期日...	-
2008-07-10	Service Message	20770	http://m.friendster.com	1kb
2008-07-09	SMS	62002	Every Wed@ C...	-
2008-07-07	SMS	62002	COCO BANANA i...	-
2008-07-06	MMS	Maxis	Free MMS - You're the best	93kb
2008-06-29	SMS	Maxis	FREE 3G & MMS...	-