The action was taken by the Independent Committee for the Supervision of Standards of Telephone Information Services (ICSTIS), the regulator of premium rate services in the UK, for breaches of its Code of Practice.
In each of three separate cases against Kast, the "reward" took the form of holiday vouchers with many conditions attached – although the SMS messages did not make this clear.
According to ICSTIS, the messages did not state call costs and the total cost/duration of the service, and misled recipients into thinking that it had been sent by the recipients' own mobile network. Kast also faces a 12 month ban on its services.
A spokesman for ICSTIS told OUT-LAW.COM that Kast and business like it are caught either because the public complains or because they unwittingly send their SMS spam to the phones of staff within ICSTIS – a consequence of the shotgun approach taken by spammers. ICSTIS simply traces the premium rate number provided back to the service provider.
There are around 40–45 networks in the UK leasing premium rate numbers to service providers. The network used by Kast was Intelliplus Group plc. Such networks maintain a contractual relationship with ICSTIS and are obliged to heed its demands to block a service.
When ICSTIS becomes aware of breaches of its Code of Practice, it can invoke an emergency procedure to make the network bar access to a premium rate service. This can be done within one hour of the complaint. The fine levied by ICSTIS can be taken out of any revenues held on account by the network for the service provider.
ICSTIS writes in its current monthly report that respondents to a consultation on new guidelines for premium rate SMS services agreed that "those responsible for unsolicited text message promotions should face severe sanctions."
A copy of the latest ICSTIS report is available here
The ICSTIS Code of Practice is available here
