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Cell Phone Safety

Using a cell phone to send and receive text messages and/or images, is very similar to using e-mail or instant messaging and some of the same safety rules apply. Your cell (mobile) phone can be a direct link between you and spammers, scammers, identity thieves, online predators and cyberbullies. On this page you will find some basic tips on cell (mobile) phone safety:

Basic safety tips to protect you and your Cell ( Mobile ) phone

Protect your privacy

• Only give your mobile number out to people you know and can trust.
• Never reply to text messages from people you don't know.
• Make sure you know how to block others from calling your phone

Respect others
Think about how a text message might be read, before you send it. Just like e-mail, text messages can be taken the wrong way. Think about the message you are sending and use emoticons to convey the meaning of your text, like lol (laughing out loud) and. Sending someone a text that could be taken the wrong way might upset them.

You should never give anyone else's number out without asking them if it is OK first because you never know what they are going to use it for once they have it. If the person asking is genuine, they will not mind you saying "No" until you have checked it is OK.

You should never take pictures of anyone, with your phone, without their permission. Some people simply do not like having their photograph taken and it is a question of manners to ask permission first. Additionally, once you have an image on your phone you can distribute it and/or upload it to the Internet. Once you do that, it is anybody's guess where that image might end up!

Use you common sense
Be careful if you meet someone in real life who you only "know" through text messaging. Even though text messaging is often the "next step" after online chatting, that does not mean that it is safer. You still do not really know who you are talking to/texting with and they might not be telling you the truth about themselves. With any face to face meeting, you should tell someone where you are going, take someone with you and arrange to meet in daylight in a public place (like the mall).

Don't be a target. Wandering around with your phone in plain view can be dangerous. if you are not using it, put it in your pocket or your bag, out of sight and only use it in public when absolutely necessary. C ell phone theft is a common crime and often, the thieves will attack and injure (in some cases, even kill) the owner of a phone.

Keeping your Cell ( Mobile ) phone and yourself safe means understanding the potential risks and how to protect against them. Precautions and solutions can differ slightly, depending on where you live.

Stopping receiving SMS
If you are receiving SMS that you don't want, you can easily stop receiving SMS messages on your handset for a while. Just turning off incoming SMS messages for a couple of days might stop the person who is texting you, as they may think that you have changed phone numbers. Note that this will stop all incoming text messages, it is not possible to block just one number - so it is obviously an inconvenience..

If the harassment is more extreme, for example you are getting threatening or malicious phone calls you can change your telephone number. Some networks will let you change without cost to a new number, and then will place your old number in quarantine for a while so that you can change back when the problem has been resolved if you wish. This service may not be available to all pre-pay customers

Other tips to protect your Cell ( Mobile ) phone

• Register your phone to prevent nuisance calls and annoying text messages (SMS spam and cold calling)
• Make a record of your Electronic Serial Number (ESN) and/or your International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI ) number. You can find out your IMEI number by pressing *#06# on your mobile phone's keypad, it will display a 15 digit number - that is your IMEI number.
• Mark your phone with a security pen so that it can be identified if recovered.
• If your phone is lost or stolen, report it to your local police station and your network operator immediately.

In the US
The National Do Not Call Registry makes it easier and more efficient for consumers to stop getting telemarketing sales calls they don't want. Register online or call toll-free: 1-888-382-1222 (TTY 1-866-290-4236), from the number you wish to register.

Click here to visit the National Do Not Call Registry Web site and register your phone

SMS messaging is getting more and more popular, with the billions of text messages sent each year increasing steadily, the sector is soon to become the largest form of communication, far outstripping e-mail and snail mail. With such enormous popularity the marketers were bound to catch on eventually to instantly and cheaply reach huge numbers of people, and indeed they have.

Not all SMS advertising is spam
The growth of commercial SMS messages is exponential, with legitimate companies using them for all kinds of purposes, including recruitment and publicity.

The use of SMS messaging for marketing is obviously an attraction to businesses because it is cheaper than standard snail mail marketing, which often lands up in most people's waste paper bins, whereas SMS messages have to be read. In a similar way as e-mail advertising it requires very little infrastructure and organization at the sending end, unlike postal based services.

There are two kinds of commercial SMS messages, solicited and unsolicited, if they are solicited messages you selected to receive them and they can be a valuable tool for you, bringing information when and where you want it. If they are unsolicited they can be a nuisance, cost you money and lead to a host of problems. Until companies start to realize their obligations and enforce the rules it seems unlikely that there will be an easy way to stop SMS spam with the exception blocking SMS messages to your phone completely, or complaining directly to companies about their unethical advertising.

The SMS marketplace does not just offer employment for spammers - con artists can find a home there too. They will text you with notifications of prizes and offers - all designed to defraud you in some way.

Some scammers will even have the audacity to approach you in public, ask to use your cell phone for an "emergency" and then dial a premium rate number that they are profiting from.

How the scams work
More and more mobile networks are offering reverse charge SMS services that let a user be charged up to several pounds for incoming SMS messages. The idea is to let their users make very small payments, called micro payments, for services with their mobile quickly and easily. To authenticate the system, and before a charged message can be sent, a certain message must be sent to a network 'short code', a telephone number consisting of just 4 digits which can only be accessed on that particular network. The con artists will do anything to get you to send a message to this number, including sending sexy messages that pretend to be from a girlfriend, or urgent messages claiming that a loved one is sick. They play on the same human weaknesses that made the Melissa and Love Bug viruses so successful. As soon as you have sent the authentication to them they are free to send you as many messages as they like, costing over a pound each.

Of course as soon as a network has proof that such a scam is operating they close it down, but in the meantime many innocent users have been duped out of money, and whilst the problem is bad for pay as you go users, who may loose al the credit on their phone, for contract users with no spending limits in place the problem can be horrendous.

Again there is no way to stop getting these scam messages without blocking all SMS messages coming to your phone, or moving to a network with no reverse charge system in place. If neither of these ideas seems attractive to you then be careful to check the number that the message came from before hitting reply on your handset.

Never reply to text messages from people you don't know because the message could be SMS spam, a phone virus or it could be from a predator or bully who has obtained your number from someone else or has "guessed" your number. Some SMS spam messages involve responding to a number that, when called, charges the users account extortionate amounts. Instead, block the caller, which prevents them from being able to call or send messages to your phone.

If someone approaches you in the street and asks to use your phone (even if they say it is an emergency) direct them to the nearest public phone or, in the case of an obvious emergency, dial 911 (or whatever your regional emergency number is) for them. Do not allow the to use your phone because they may either be trying to steal your phone or, they may be a scammer who uses your phone to dial a premium rate number that charges your phone account. They profit from the call and you are left with a hefty bill.

Online virus warnings about e-mail worms and trojans are familiar enough and they are something that mobile phone users are also going to have to consider.

There are already viruses for the pocket PC and palm operating system 'in the wild' and the problem is bad enough that a virus checker, pc-cillan, has been adapted to work on mobile devices. Without a doubt these viruses will be adapted to work on the next generation of phones, and with the rise of always on data solutions to next generation phones, like GPRS and UTMS, the exposure presented to crackers is getting larger.

These problems however are being tackled at the network end, with firewall implementation from the networks, but it remains to see how big a problem it will be. Sensible use, the same as you would apply to e-mail and your computer will soon have to apply to mobile phones, and as always how exposed you are depends on the decisions you make.

Text harassment is a crime and it should always be reported to the police. This article is about what to do if you are being bullied or harassed.

How to stop SMS bullying
If you are receiving threatening or malicious messages by SMS then the first thing to do is go to the police with all of the messages you have received. If you have the ability to record calls on your handset (this feature is built into most Motorola and some Erickson and Nokia phones) then take the recording too. They will then work with the networks to stop the problem you are having.

If the calls are merely annoying, then you should seek assistance from a parent or a teacher, as well as this there are technical methods available to help you stop getting these calls.

Internet related problems
It is very important not to give out your mobile phone number over the Internet, as it can be used to get information about you. Once it is made available, your number can be abused by spammers, scammers, identity thieves, online predators and cyberbullies. There are telephone directories which can reveal information about customers when their phone number is put in, and it also gives a method of contact that you may be reluctant to change.

Only give your mobile number out to people you know and can trust because once you hand someone your number it is very difficult to take back, because of the inconvenience of having to change your number and inform everyone who you do want to tell of the change. If you do need to contact someone via SMS that you met over the Internet, or even someone who don't really want to give your telephone number then you may want to take advantage of a service like ICQ web SMS , which allows you to send and receive text messages to a number which you can change easily, and can have none of your real details attached.

Because of the time it takes to type messages on a phone keypad, text messages use shortcuts. These shortcuts mean that text messages are not complete words or sentences, but abbreviations and symbols, which are beginning to find their way into every day language, recognized by traditional dictionaries and observed by some linguists as being a new language form.

Tips for safe texting and responsible cell (mobile) phone use

Understand what you are sending (and receiving)
The lingo (language) used to send text messages consists of many shortcuts which appear as acronyms and/or symbols that, to the uninitiated, can be incomprehensible. There are obvious risks here, from the potential danger or embarrassment of responding inappropriately to a message you do not fully understand to not being aware of what your child is sending or reading. It is vital that parents learn the basics of text messaging, despite the way kids cringe when they hear their parents using the latest (or what they think is the latest) "cool" youth buzzword (in fact - using "cool" or "buzzword" may be prime examples of that particular cross-generation social gaffe <g>).

However, let them cringe. Learn what the acronyms and symbols they use mean. At the end of the day, it could save vital time in the unthinkable event that something happens to your child and their cell phone or IM conversation record is your only clue as to what has preceded.

Our fabulous Teenangels (specially trained volunteers, aged 13 to 17) have developed the Teenangels Chat Translator, which features over 1 500 translations of the acronyms and symbols used to communicate via SMS messaging and IM.

At the Teenangels Web site (which they design and maintain themselves) you can:

• Download the Teenangels Chat Translator.
• View and add to the Teenangels chat lingo terms.
• Download the list of acronyms used in the Chat Translator. http://www.teenangels.org/

Instant messsaging and text messaging
Many IM clients now include an option to send a text message directly to the user's cell phone. This feature can be abused by spammers, scammers, identity thieves, online predators and cyberbullies. Since many cell phones are now capable of accessing the Internet and sending/receiving images the dangers associated with them are increasing in tandem with the advances in technology. Steps can be taken to minimize the risks to cell phone users, especially children:

• Make sure that online profiles do not contain any personally identifiable information.
• Avoid posting your cell phone number online.
• Learn how to engage blocking on your cell phone.
• Never respond to text messages from someone you don't know.
• Never let someone you don't know use your cell phone.

Respect for others
Using a cell phone in a public place can cause annoyance, if you talk loudly and continuously or have a loud, aggravating ring tone. This could, indirectly, place you in physical danger - cases of "cell phone rage" have been cited and a growing number of pedestrian and road traffic accidents are the result of a lapse of attention caused by using a cell phone. Don't text and/or talk on your cell phone when driving (it is dangerous and therefore illegal in many places) and if you must use your cell phone in a public place:

• Keep calls short and don't advertize your phone.
• Try and send a text instead of calling.
• Set your phone to vibrate not ring.
• Talk normally, there is no need to shout down your phone.
• Don't text and walk, if you are looking at the phone you are not looking where you are going.

Health
In addition, there is some considerable debate over the physiological effects of using cell phones. Reseach into the effects of radiofrequency energy and radiation levels from cell phones is ongoing. There is, as yet, no conclusive evidence that having a cell phone clamped to the side of your head for the best part of the day is dangerous, however, just as it is not deemed healthy to be sat in front of a computer all day, it is equally obvious that chatting on a phone all day carries similar concerns. Think about it - do you really need to make that call or could you send a text? Texting involves less time and expense and just like computers, cell phones should be used sensibly - try and limit the time you spend using them - they are a comunication tool, not a bionic limb.