So you’re expecting an important SMS from your boss, and your cell beep. And while you’re eagerly waiting to know the contents of the message, you realise your number has been selected for a trip to Europe, and of course ‘Terms and Conditions apply!’ All that you have to do is reply to XYZ code. This is just one of the 100 spam SMSes you receive everyday!

Did you know that a recent survey showed one in every 100 recipients falls prey to SMS scams since criminals target smart phones? The rise in such cases has been accounted to the increase in mobile internet users, which makes it easy for criminals to attack users.

There are tons of internet SMS portals through which SMS spam can be sent at extremely low costs. In fact, commercial SMSes cost less than a paisa! Naturally, spammers find this economically convenient.
According to the Telegraph, a single SMS text message spam attack has the ability to make over $10 million in three days.
Most common SMS spam For mobile users who connect to the internet, there are links that come as a "click fraud", which may actually be an ad or mobile virus. Many spam messages try to attract users telling them their number has been selected for a prize or offer, and all they have to do is reply back at a premium rate. Messages which request you to download ringtones etc may also be spam. Once they know yours is a valid number, they start bombarding you with advertisements. The worst part is this is actually legal as per the terms and conditions they make you abide by initially. Other kinds of spam include those which inform you that a particular scheme has been activated on your phone and you have to reply to a particular code for deactivation.

What makes SMS spam more annoying than spam e-mail is the fact that while the latter can be directly deleted, an SMS cannot be deleted without being opened. So we give you a few tips to save yourself such messages:

Guard your number
Avoid showcasing your number on social networking websites, or at least alter your privacy settings for it.

Be selective
Avoid giving your number to every company that offers you a small gift or filling it into forms at malls and restaurants. Also when you call any local search engine company for numbers, request them to avoid sending your number to advertisers or the like.

Block SMSes
Make use of the several spam SMS blocking softwares that are out there. What's more, these will also let you set your own rules for blocking certain SMSes.

Create an alias
When you have to receive message from a website (for eg: airline schedules, train reservations etc), these websites may give you an option to create an alias address. All message not addresses to the alias will be blocked and you'll be able to shut out spammers!

Not SMS savvy?
If you are not text savvy or do not use the SMS facility, bar all messages to your inbox. This will prevent any message from bothering you.
Do you have any other method to protect your phone from unwanted spam SMSes? Leave us a comment and let us know.