Three Teens Scam Free SMSs to Enter SMS Competitions and Win $100K in a Year.

neil on 29/07/2014 - 22:40

The Godfathers of SMS and how we took online competitions for $100,000

That's a really interesting story of how these guys basically won all of these SMSs contests in the early 2000s by utilizing some free sms hack.

Calls were expensive; there was no ‘caps’ or ‘unlimited plans’ and a text message cost about 25c. During this golden age of technology rumor got around that you could change the settings on your phone to get free text messages. My brother Alex explained it to me that by changing carriers and changing phone numbers at the same time would allow you to send as many SMS's as you wished at zero charge.

Never heard of this. Can anyone confirm this? Redditers are questioning if this is true

They soon moved on to sending their free SMSs via a computer.

A mobile phone connected to a laptop computer through an infrared interface with a self-programmed code that would send 3 messages per second, from the mobile phone….The device needed to be tested. Greater Union cinema was running a competition for a double pass to go see the premier of Godzilla. Five minutes after switching on the machine, his phone began to ring. He crashed Greater Union’s server. They told him he could just have the tickets to Godzilla if he just stopped entering.

Reminded me of the Press Your Luck Game Show Hack albeit that was a bit more elaborate.

General Discussion

Comments

  • 729fx on 29/07/2014 - 23:07
    +1

    Entertaining read but to me the story is too neat to be believable.
    A photo of one of their 'big scores' would make me a believer.

  • cwongtech on 29/07/2014 - 23:13
    -2

    A mobile phone connected to a laptop computer through an infrared interface with a self-programmed code that would send 3 messages per second, from the mobile phone….The device needed to be tested.

    Now why the hell would you use an IR blaster to do that? Have these kids heard of a USB cable!?

    • fruit on 29/07/2014 - 23:21
      +1

      Because either a) phone didn't have USB
      or b) USB was for transferring files and possibly updating firmware.

      And Laptops came with an IR port back then.

      • scrimshaw on 30/07/2014 - 01:24

        This was back in 2002 and most Nokia phones used the IRDA interface for file transfer.

        I remember using the Nokia PC suite lets you send text messages using your computer so long as your phone is sync'ed up.

  • akyeeeahdude on 30/07/2014 - 00:30

    Sounds plausible.

    Back in the day when mobile internet (GPRS/WAP I think it was called) was very uncommon and cost a fortune, there was an exploit to get free unlimited data on your phone. You'd buy a Vodafone $2 sim and I can't remember everything involved but it was quite simple and all you needed to do was get your settings right in your phone but never activate the sim card.

    It used to blow people away, how are you on the internet on your laptop in the middle of a park? Hehe

  • Sage on 30/07/2014 - 09:58

    jeez it's not a real article, the thread title is misleading.

Login or Join to leave a comment
Login Join