Ana Garcia
Text message scams – the ones that falsely say you've won a gift card to a major retailer – are the target of a pair of Beverly Hills consumer attorneys. Ana Garcia reports for the NBC4 News at 5 p.m. on Jan. 21, 2013.
Text message scams – the ones that falsely say you've won a gift card to a major retailer – are the target of a pair of Beverly Hills consumer attorneys.
You may think the texts announcing a free $1,000 gift card to Target or Best Buy were sent by the retail giants, but they weren't, as NBC4 reported last year.
The texts were sent by an elusive third-party marketing company, according to two Beverly Hills attorneys Paul Mankin and Todd Friedman.
"Almost everyone I know has been getting those texts," Mankin said.
Robo-texting is similar to robo-calling, which is also target of a lawsuit filed by Friedman.
"It’s clearly a scam, but the problem is finding out which company this is," Friedman said.
Friedman and Mankin are planning to take legal action against the marketing company, which declined to name until their class-action lawsuit is filed.
Even if consumers don’t fall for the misleading texts, each text can cost them money if they are on a limited data plan.
It’s the same thing for those unwanted telemarking calls eating away at your minutes.
"You might be paying 10 cents, 20 cents per text," Mankin said.
For people on limited plans, "that’s one less minute they can use," he added.
