Off The Record

Need someone “rubbed out” or slightly “rearranged”? Your mobile phone may hold the solution – in China at least.

One of the interesting things about China is the variety of bizarre SMS-spam messages one receives almost every day.  Written in Chinese they come from vendors offering to provide a variety of fake items, from satellite dishes to brand-label clothing and cars, and even counterfeit official receipts (fa piao).  There are also offers of massage services sent via SMS and which hint at more than just a backrub.  Recently I’ve been receiving messages that offer to help “rearrange” people for me.  This “rearrange” implies a rearranging of bone structures of individuals with which the buyer of these services might be having a dispute. 

This is viral marketing by local triads and they’re getting good at it.  The gangsters involved must be purchasing mailing lists from the telephone carriers and other sources.  Or maybe they obtain the mailing lists through time-honoured traditions of blackmail and extortion.  Who knows?  And those who know aren’t talking.

One can only assume that this sort of spamming for business yields results for those broadcasting their trade; otherwise why promote it in this fashion.

There’s not much good in reporting this kind of spam to the police as there is far too much of it about for them to do anything.