Written question asked by Baroness Teather (Liberal Democrat) on Tuesday, 15 January 2008, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 17 January 2008. It was answered by Malcolm Wicks (Labour) on Monday, 18 February 2008 on behalf of the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform.

Mobile Phones: Fraud

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what regulations his Department has introduced prohibiting phishing texts on mobile telephones.

Answer: The practice of attempting fraud by text message, also known as ““smishing””, is rare in the UK. Under the provisions of the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003, any unsolicited text messages are illegal. Text messages should only be sent with the prior consent of the individual subscriber, but there is an exemption where the subscriber has given his or her mobile telephone number direct to a company in the context of the purchase of a product or service. Enforcement is undertaken by the Information Commissioner.

Secondary information