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Go to all the cellphone stores in your area, sign up all the demo phones for your very own premium SMS text service, and make $9.99 per demo phone!  Find out how.

Every now and then I receive a random text message on my cell phone.  Sometimes it’s a horoscope reading, sometimes it’s a random stock pick, sometimes it’s a weather report and other times its just some advertising spam. 

I initially thought that it was just an annoyance so I would simply either ignore or delete the message.  I bet the majority of people have the same type of reaction in this situation.

However sometimes the messages reoccur and other times they do not.

Either way at the end of the month I recieve my cell phone bill only to find that I have an additional $4.99 charge for a “third-party” service!

I call up my cell phone company and ask them what this charge is for and they tell me that’s it either a subscription or one-time text messaging service.  They go on to tell me that I can’t cancel through them or get a refund because these charges are from a third-party company and not my actual cellphone carrier.

They simply tell me to reply to all further text messages with the words: STOP or CANCEL to prevent these text messages from reoccurring.  This will cancel the service from here on out, but it will not refund any current or previous charges.

So what does this mean?  This means that you will still be charged for the initial text message regardless of whether you cancel the service immediately and that this “third-party” company could be getting anywhere between 99 cents and $9.99 for sending you this single text message.

I checked my previous cell phone bills from past months only to find that there were similar charges those months that I did not even notice! 

Initially this made me angry, but once I thought about this ingenious business model, I immediately wanted in! 

I bet that at least 70% of the people who receive these type of text messages don’t even notice that they are being charged for these extra services and just pay their bills. 

Background

This type of service is known as Reverse SMS billing or a premium SMS service where companies can bill a user through an SMS text.  This even goes beyond just charging for text messages.  Services like PayPay or GPay allows people to send and transfer money via SMS. People can also charge money to their cell phone account with similar types of services.

Where this money goes

I did some research on this type of third-party text message billing and found that these companies make between half to a third of what they bill, the cell phone company takes one-third and the payment gateway service also gets one-third.

So if they charge 99 cents per month and bill 30,000 people they will be making approximately $10,000 per month.

If they bump this up to $4.99 per month they will be making over $45,000 per month.

So how do YOU set up this type of service?

Companies like Telemedia and TextMarks allow people to set up their own text messaging services for free.

Textmarks is the easiest service to use and allows people to set up a keyword for use on their short code of 41411.

You could set up the keyword, MakeMoney, and when anyone sends an SMS text with the word, MakeMoney, to 41411. They would be signed up for your premium SMS service for either $4.99 or $9.99 per month depending what you want to charge for your service.

Now the difficulty is advertising and getting people to sign up for your keyword.  Unless you want to go the spamming route like many companies do.

Bulk SMS messaging

There are services out there like ClickaTell which allows users to send bulk SMS messages to thousands or perhaps millions of cellphone users.

You could also write a web-based application to do bulk PC-to-Phone SMS texting. 

To stop the use of spamming some of the premium SMS services requires all potential subscribers to reply with a “Y” indicating that they actually understand the charges and want to subscribe to the service.  However, this could potentially be countered and defeated with SMS text spoofing or by writing a web-based application to sign people up for your text service regardless of whether or not they have actually willingly subscribed.

Signing tens-of-thousands of people up for your premium SMS service requires a bit work however it could be highly rewarding and bring in thousands of dollars per month.  However there is an easier way to make a couple hundred per month with much less time and work involved.

Bill the Cellphone Companies Back

Go to all the cellphone stores in your area and sign up all the demo phones for your premium SMS text service! 

In my immediate area there are 3 Sprint/Nextel Stores, 4 AT&T stores, 4 Verizon stores, 3 T-Mobile Stores, and 1 Helio Store.  These 15 cell phone stores had a total of 328 active demo phones that I was able to sign up for my $9.99 a month service.

After the cellphone companies take their cut (~33%) and the premium SMS billing gateways take their cut (~33%).  I am left with $3.00 per subscriber, not too bad, but not great.  Better than nothing though!  So with 328 subscribers at $3.00 per month I am making an easy $984.00 per month.  That’s a decent car payment (this may even cover rent for some people)! 

The Process:
1) Sign up for a shortcode keyword.
2) Set your keyword for premium billing (either $4.99 or $9.99 per month).
3) Go to your local cellphone store and use all the demo phones to text your keyword to their 41411 short code.
4) Clear out all inboxed and sent text messages from phones.
5) Repeat this process at more cellphone stores.
6) Wait for them to mail you a check for approx $1.50 per subscriber ($4.99) or $3.00 per subscriber ($9.99). The more subscribers you have the more you make!

I am billing the cellphone companies back and they are paying for it!  I got my
first check last month.

And things are just getting started…

If I head further into the bay area there are hundreds of cell phone stores with thousands of demo phones so my subscriber list is sure to increase!  I can sign up more phones at my leisure.

Also, the cellphone companies get new phones every few months so this would allow me to return to these stores and sign up all their new phones for my premium service.  Things are just getting better and better!

So what is your take on these premium SMS scam ideas?

Today I am trying to devise a system which would allow me to be able to make unlimited cellphone calls for just $39.99 a month.

To put this system into action I need the following:
- ($39.99/month) A basic cellphone plan with unlimited calls to/from one or more phone number.
- ($49.99 for kit) ApogeeKits telephone remote control electronic set.
- ($32.99/month or $9 month) A landline with unlimited nationwide calling and 3-way calling.

Basic Cellphone Plan

Several cell phone companies offer plans that allow their subscribers to make unlimited calls to their most frequently called number(s), for example:

Sprint - offers a Basic Cell Phone Plan for $34.99 a month and you can add on Unlimited PCS to Home Calls for $5 more a month, making this total plan amount $39.99 a month. This plan would allow you to make or receive unlimited calls to/from your home number for no additional charge.

T-Mobile - has the favorite 5 plan where you can make or receive unlimited calls to up to 5 different numbers for $39.99 a month.

ApogeeKits Telephone Remote Control

ApogeeKits makes a remote control via telephone electronic kit which allows a person to use a telephone to turn up to three devices on or off, adjust a thermostat, enable and disable an alarm system or activate a combination lock remotely over the phone line. They sell this kit for only $49.99.

Landline with Unlimited Nationwide Calling

I currently have unlimited nationwide calling on my homephone line through Trinsic that I pay $32.99 a month and this plan includes 3-way calling, caller id, call forwarding, call waiting, voicemail, etc. AT&T offers a similar unlimited landline phone package for $39.99 a month.

You could also use a VoIP or similar type of service like Vonage ($24.99/month), Comcast Digital Voice ($33.99/month), TelaSIP ($9/month), or ViaTalk($8.29/month) and pay even less.

My Plan

My plan is to wire this kit to my home telephone so that I can call into my home phone number from my cellphone, press a command *3 and have my home phone flash over to 3-way calling, which would create a dial tone from my phone line, I would then be able to enter the number that I wanted to call (using the combination lock feature) and the call would be made from my landline instead of my cellphone. Doing this would use zero of my actual cellphone minutes and I would thus be able to make unlimited outgoing calls without being charged any additional usage.

I could also forward this landline to my cellphone so that I could also receive unlimited calls, but I will need to somehow utilize caller id to prevent any calls made from my cellphone from being immediately forwarded.  I am still working on adding a caller id circuit into the system.

This kit also enables you to set up a 4-digit pin code to protect your line from unauthorized use.

I could even set up an 800 or 866 number on my home line that would allow me to make unlimited calls from any payphone or any other phone, however getting your own toll free number can get expensive, so I will probably skip doing this.

I am really surprised that no-one else has thought of doing this. One guy set up an Asterisk@Home Linux Phone Server to do something similar, but I want to build a simple electronic kit that can be placed inside an actual landline telephone so anyone without any technical knowledge, can simply plug this special phone into a regular home phone jack and be ready to take advantage of this trick.

If all goes well I will make special phone which will look like an ordinary home phone with a built-in answering machine which can be simply plugged into any home phone jack.

One-Time Set Up:

The user could set up a pin code, by lifting the receiver and entering command #29, they would hear a beep and they could enter any 4-digit pin that would protect the phone line from unauthorized use. There would be a switch on the side of the phone which would determine if the home line would ring once or three times before being forwarded to the cellphone. You would need to forward your homephone to your cell phone using your landline phone service. You are now ready to make or receive FREE unlimited phone calls.

To make a FREE outgoing call from your cell:
- Call your home phone number.
- Press *3, you will hear a reset and then a dial tone.
- Dial the number you wish to call.

I have not worked with regular analog telephone systems for years. Phreaking and telephonry went out in the early 90s, everyone now focuses on cellular phones and these old telephone remote controls are not often used anymore.

If I can get this to work I may one day sell these phones. However, the cell phone companies may one day offer unlimited calling for a reasonable rate and this would make a system like this obsolete, however I doubt that this will happen anytime soon because they make way too much money on the per-minute over usage charges.

I am still working a few issues out in getting this to work well, I will write back in a week or so and report on any progress and provide more details on how to do this. 

Spoofcard offers you the ability to change or spoof what someone sees on their caller ID display when they receive a phone call. 

You can use this service to MAKE ANY PHONE NUMBER APPEAR on the caller id of the person you are calling, CHANGE YOUR VOICE, record your calls, and even GAIN ACCESS TO OTHER PEOPLE’S VOICEMAIL!

To make a call, you call into a toll-free number that they provide to you and then enter your access pin number. They will ask you to provide the 10-digit number of the person you wish to call and ask you to provide the 10-digit number that you would like to appear on the caller id.

You also have the option of digitally changing your voice to sound different, or making your voice sound like a deep pitched man or a high pitched woman. You can also record and review any calls made through the system.

With this service your calls are totally untraceable because the calls are actually made from the Spoofcard servers independently from the phone you are using.

You can get 60 minutes of talk time for only $10!

Spoofcard’s purchase page is very straight forward - select your purchase amount, either $10, $20, $40, or $80 worth of call time, enter your email address and your done. Your account is activated instantly and your PIN number and toll free access number are delivered to the email address you entered on buy page.

MAIN TRICK:

You can fool your friends or other people with this service by using this to make calls that appear to be have been made from THEIR phone number. Everyone will think that THEY made the call because THEIR number will appear on the caller id.

SECONDARY TRICKS:

Use the voice changer to mess with people and record the call.

BONUS TRICK:

If you want to break into someone’s voicemail you can simply enter their phone number as the number you wish to call and provide the exact same number as the number you wish to appear on the caller id. Their voicemail system will think that the call is being made from the home phone number or from their cellphone handset and pass you directly into the voicemail without verifying a passcode.

It makes it seem like you are trying to call the same number that you are calling from and this is usually enough to gain access to most voicemail systems!

This works especially well on cellphone voicemail systems. Both the Cingular Wireless and T-Mobile USA telephone networks use Caller ID to identify voicemail users without requiring passwords. So users on either network are totally vulnerable to this trick.

IN THE NEWS

There was even an article a while back talking about how Paris Hilton got into trouble for using this service to break into Lindsay Lohan’s voicemail. Paris also made harassing calls and made them appear to be made from Lindsay’s cellphone.

Read this article by clicking here.

Key Benefits:

- Make calls truly private and untraceable.
- Ability to record calls.
- Change your voice.
- Pretend to be someone else.
- Get access to someone else’s voicemail.
- Use their service to block your number from toll-free numbers which cannot be blocked using *67 because they have ANI (Automatic Number Identification) technology that cannot be blocked.

Click HERE to be brought to Spoofcard’s website.