Brits receive over 148 million spam texts every month, potentially...

the most annoying form of spam, ahead of email and junk mail, the company said. The annoyance can quickly turn to fraud, something that has happened in the U.S. in the past few years, said AdaptiveMobile Vice President for Handset Security Ciaran Bradley. With 60 percent of the British public having gotten unsolicited messages, “this is becoming an important issue for the mobile ecosystem,” he said. Despite those problems, SMS remains one of the U.K.’s most trusted ways of communicating, the company said. But that trust can be abused: Nearly a quarter of those who got junk SMS messages have replied “opt out” or “stop,” which tells spammers that the phones are active, it said. Almost half of consumers who respond to texts get more spam or unwanted calls, or may have money charged to their account, it said. Better mobile controls can help cut the amount of spam texts an individual receives, said Stephen Eckersley, head of enforcement at the U.K. Information Commissioner’s Office. The ICO is trying to identify companies that continue to spam in violation of the law and can fine the worst offenders up to £500,000 ($798,000), he said. The research also found that when money is taken after an SMS spam scam, the theft can go unnoticed for months. Fourteen percent of respondents said they wouldn’t query discrepancies on their mobile bills until the amounts exceeded £5, which could add up to around £20 million every month landing in the pockets of thieves, AdaptiveMobile said. Mobile operators are worried that if spam texts aren’t eradicated, they'll experience “significant churn,” Bradley added.