SMS Originator Codes

Hi All:

I have a little problem and am not sure whether this is the right place to post. I have just received an sms message from an unknown party. The originator code is not the normal phone number or the normal corporate company code from the service provider's website. I called customer service at my service provider. They told me that they didn't know where the code was from. So, my question is, is it possible to set up a website and program in wap to start sending these sms's to people and just set up an originator code or must the originiator code be registered to a specific party's website. If it is registered to a specific party, where could I check where it originated from?

I hope this makes sense as I don't know much about wap programming. But I'd really want to find out where the sms came from. I am sorry if I have posted in the wrong forum. If any of you out there know where I could find the answer, please let me know.

Thanks in advance to anyone that can give me some help.

Zakae

Hi Zakae,

Welcome to Dev Shed!

Most SMS gateways allow you to specify the originator value when sending SMS - it could be a number, real or not, a word or alpha-numeric value, in most cases up to 11 or 16 characters in length.

I'm not sure where in the world you are but if you're based in the UK www.icstis.org.uk will be able to help you track the person who sent the message. ICSTIS are the regulatory body behind the Telecoms industry here.

The Telephone Preference Service website may also be of help to you, again it's UK based but you can specify that you do not want to get unsolicited SMS messages being delivered to your number.

It's not 100% successful however as spammers are spammers and tend not to check against the TPS numbers list. They'll just spam to any number and it's often the case that the numbers were generated by a script.

Your service provider WILL know where the message came from, they have a legal obligation to log all messages, in and out so somewhere will have it on record that it originated from XXX - I think you were most likely dealing with uneducated call-centre staff who were unwilling to get off their proverbial and help a client. I'd say push them harder and climb up the food chain till you get an answer.

Hope this helps.

Thanks Andymoo. I actually live in Canada. I will try my service provider again. Once again, thanks!

This is a US directory of short codes. There is a link to the official site for Canadian codes.

Hi Zakae,

Although the site is far from finished, you can check to see if the sms was sent through us by visiting T4ME.

Thanks all for your help. But I have still not been able to pinpoint the sender. As I have said, I live in Canada. The sender ID was +44444. Makes me wonder how he got that ID. Thanks for all your help so far.

+44 usually denotes a UK number. Were there any more digits or is that ut?

Nope, these were the only numbers. There weren't any spaces in between either.

If it was offensive or, for whatever other reason, you don't want to receive messages like that again, you should complain to your service provider.

From what we know, the US is quite serious about SMS spam, so (Like Andy said) they WILL know where it has come from and should be able to help.

The originator was most likely made up by a spammer.

You've been spammed, I've been spammed, we all get spammed, it sucks. Deal with it.

One important thing though, is NOT TO reply to that number!!!

In addition to being spam, it may well also be a scam and replying to it might smack your phone bill with a costly premium-rated message.