ANYONE who owns a mobile phone will be familiar with them. Those text messages that begin with the word "Congratulations" and go on to inform you that you've won a great prize. All you have to do is claim it.

Typical examples are: "Congratulations! In this week's draw u have won the £1,000 prize. To claim call 0906..." Or: "This is the 2nd time we have contacted u. U have won the £1450 prize. To claim just call 0906..."

In a world in which we're deluged with junk mail, spam emails, and offers of all kinds that are too good to be true, we know this is just another scam. But there's always that niggling doubt. What if this time it's genuine, and we don't reply?

It's that tiny doubt which probably explains why we're still falling for the scams. This year complaints to the mobile phone industry premium rate service regulator the Independent Committee for the Supervision of Standards of Telephone Information Services (ICSTIS) have reached record levels - more than 5,000 complaints so far in 2003, compared to 1,200 in the whole of last year.

That, presumably, is more than 5,000 people who have been stung.

Advice from ICSTIS is that, unless you have specifically requested details of a competition or prize offer, you do not respond. Because you won't win anything and will only end up paying for an expensive 'phone call.

"We do not know of any callers who have won cash prizes," says ICSTIS chairman Sir Peter North.

Even when there is a genuine "prize" being offered - and usually it will only be something like holiday vouchers with all kinds of strings attached about when you can book, travel and so on - unsolicited texts are almost by definition going to be in breach of the ICSTIS code of practice.

This requires that consumers be able to see for themselves full details of the terms and conditions under which such a prize is offered before committing themselves or having to pay out for expensive calls. "And you cannot get all that information in 160 characters," points out ICSTIS spokesman Suhail Bhat.

The regulator is so concerned about the growth of such text messages it is threatening drastic action.

Businesses operating such "services" who are complained about, face having all the numbers on which they operate barred, and the revenue they earned through operating them withheld. If they are subsequently found to have breached ICSTIS' Code of Practice they also face being fined.

"So far, we have taken action against 54 companies, imposing fines of up to £50,000," Sir Peter says. "Where appropriate, we will also refer cases to the Office of the Information Commissioner and the police."

He also fires a shot across the bows of the "handful" of mobile phone networks that continue to give out premium rate numbers to operators they suspect will try to run such a scam. Unless they co-operate by helping ICSTIS track down the operators, they face being reported to Oftel.

"Despite his anger, however, Sir Peter acknowledges the sheer scale of the problem means stamping out such scams will not be easy. "Historically, these service providers have operated on a relatively small scale and we have been able to minimise the harm caused by their actions," he says.

"This is, however, proving to be more difficult with the current spate of misleading and unsolicited text messages. Despite repeated warnings, we are receiving record numbers of complaints."

New European legislation which is expected to come into force in the UK on December 11 might help the regulator clamp down.

The legislation will make it illegal to send out competitions or prize offers - whether by text, email or other form of electronic communication - without the prior consent of the person to whom the offer is sent.

But even then, it will take time for the legislation to kick in, and for those operating the scams to be hit hard enough for it no longer to be worth their while.

So, in the meantime, if you do receive an unsolicited text message offering a bogus prize, what should you do? Here is ICSTIS's advice:

If you're not satisfied the text is genuine (for example, if it is not in response to a competition you entered, or you are not able to get information about the terms and conditions attached to the "prize") do not ring to make a claim. Chances are you will be wasting money.

lReport the message to ICSTIS on its freephone helpline 0800 500 212. You should then be able to forward the message to the regulator, for further investigation.

If you want to protect as much as possible against receiving further unsolicited texts, call the Telephone Preference Service on 0845 070 0707, which should be able to help screen out calls.

They may be reluctant to screen your mobile against text messages but you should insist, says ICSTIS - because a text message does count as a telephone call.

Updated: 16:15 Wednesday, October 01, 2003