4 get it: Vodafone says hoaxes waste time and money

By CHRIS DANIELS consumer reporter

Hoax text messages are again circulating on the Vodafone mobile phone network, and consumers are being advised not to waste money passing them on.

Vodafone has announced a resurgence of a hoax message that came from Australia last year.

It tells phone users to forward the message on to seven other cellphones to get six months' free text-messaging from Vodafone.

Company spokeswoman Alison Sykora said that while the hoax message did not harm recipients, they should delete it.

The message was not true, she said. Vodafone wanted to help "prevent customers from spending money on meaningless text messages."

Vodafone was at present running a promotion giving away free text messaging for 12 months to one customer a day.

Alison Sykora said she did not know whether the resurgence of last year's hoax was related to the promotion.

Telecom said it had no reports of the hoax message circulating on its network.

Hoax messages are still causing headaches for IT workers, with two hoax virus warnings now clogging e-mail inboxes across New Zealand.

The "Virtual Card for You" hoax is simply the latest in a long line of bogus viruses, most of which allegedly wipe hard drives and copy themselves.

The latest has prompted computer virus experts to again issue the often-heard but little appreciated message: delete it and tell the IT department - do not pass it on to everyone in your address book.