{"id":499871,"date":"2021-06-21T13:22:42","date_gmt":"2021-06-21T11:22:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=499871"},"modified":"2021-06-21T13:23:06","modified_gmt":"2021-06-21T11:23:06","slug":"new-service-lets-you-check-whos-sending-spam-text-messages-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/mobile\/499871\/new-service-lets-you-check-whos-sending-spam-text-messages-in-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"New service lets you check who’s sending spam messages in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Wireless Application Service Providers\u2019 Association (WASPA) has launched its new Codes project, which will allow South Africans to identify the owner of a short, long or USSD code.<\/p>\n

Among other features, the group said the service will allow users to identify unwanted messages advertising products, as well as determining the legitimacy of a sender.<\/p>\n

Ilonka Badenhorst, managing executive at WASPA, said that unsolicited direct marketing messages may create frustration for the recipient, especially if they are unable to identify the originator of the message.<\/p>\n

Consumers can now visit the WASPA Codes Platform<\/a><\/strong> and enter the number to obtain more information on the sender of the marketing message.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis will make it easy to identify where the SMS came from, although of course, the platform will only contain information about service providers that are registered with WASPA.<\/p>\n

“If the sender is identified, consumers will have the additional peace of mind knowing that they are communicating with a reputable player that is bound by the WASPA Code of Conduct,\u201d she explains.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the company that sent the SMS is registered with WASPA, their contact details will be provided, allowing the consumer to contact them directly to obtain more information on the originator of the message, to request to be removed from the database or to lodge a complaint.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Codes Project is an extension of WASPA\u2019s Do Not Contact (DNC) initiative, said Badenhorst, which is a list that consumers can add their number to, to avoid unsolicited SMS advertising.<\/p>\n

Designed with consumers’ protection in mind, WASPA members engaged in direct SMS marketing campaigns are required to check the DNC list every week.<\/p>\n

She said that in a situation where the organisation sending the messages fails to comply, the consumer can then contact WASPA directly, as the organisation has a well-established complaints process.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is worth noting that the Consumer Protection Act and the Protection of Personal Information Act contain specific provisions regulating direct marketing and that WASPA\u2019s Code incorporates all of the requirements of these laws.<\/p>\n

“Moreover, this Code is binding on members of WASPA and any companies sending messages via a WASPA member.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis means that consumers that make use of the DNC and Codes facilities can rest assured that WASPA\u2019s members – and their clients – can only send marketing messages to them if they are already a customer or have specific permission to do so, as well as being easily identifiable as the sender,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\n

Read: Vodacom to offer short-term cash loans between R3,000 and R350,000 for small businesses<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Wireless Application Service Providers\u2019 Association (WASPA) has launched its new Codes project, which will allow South Africans to identify the owner of a short, long or USSD code.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":249547,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[26,3733],"class_list":["post-499871","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mobile","tag-headline","tag-waspa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/499871","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=499871"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/499871\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":499889,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/499871\/revisions\/499889"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/249547"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=499871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=499871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=499871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}