You have still not claimed the compensation you are due for the accident you have. to start the process please reply YES. To opt out text STOP.Obviously a scam, but how does it work? It didn't take much googling to find out. It seems that the real scamming doesn't start at the point when an unwise person replies to the message (although replying to one of these texts may be a bit pricey). These messages are apparently sent out to random numbers, to see if anybody replies. The numbers of people unwise enough to reply are added to a database of marketing "leads" (AKA "marks", "gulls" or "suckers"). James Wiseman is able to elucidate:
The whole setup is quite elaborate. But in essence there is a computer program that pretends to be the number you see that sends out all the spam messages. Meanwhile, another computer program monitors the text-message mailbox of all of the numbers you see. If you reply, then you are added to a database of numbers to be called (and for future spamming).The real scamming starts when people who've replied, and therefore passed the gullibility test, start getting marketing calls from dodgy salespeople using the database of soft touches. The current message is apparently a variant of an earlier message, which purportedly alerted people to government debt settlement orders that would have the effect of "wiping off" debts. As you'd expect, most of the dodgy operations who follow up the "leads" from the fall guy database are in the accident management or debt management businesses.
It's a murky business and I'm grateful to the public-spirited Mr Wiseman for dishing out the straight dope on the rest of the process. Like making law or sausages, the squeamish may wish to remain ignorant of the means of production, but if you're still interested in how marketing leads are processed, there's more information here.
Oh, and don't, whatever you do, reply to +447866735879, or any other number sending out a similar message.
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