The French Federation of Telecoms explains how a strong regional collaboration can help fighting mobile spam. This was presented in the GSMA seminar "Collaborating to Overcome Mobile Spam Threats" during the Mobile World Congress, Barcelona 2012.

1. GSMA Seminar:
Collaborating to Overcome Mobile Spam Threats
« The 33700 Project »:
A global program to fight mobile spam
based on a strong regional collaboration
February, 27th 2012

2. The 33700 project: Context of the launch
 Raise in the number of complaints made by mobile clients and associations of
customers on SMS spamming activities
 SMS spams received by government officials
 SMS spams having harmful effects on the image of telecom operators
Official demand by public authorities to implement a solution, with a threat to take
regulatory actions, if the action were not deemed efficient and satisfying
=> highly sensitive, politically speaking
Decision by the French Federation of telecommunications (FFTelecoms) to create a
simple and seamless process, based on self-regulation:
 gathering fixed and mobile operators,
 allowing customers to report every SMS they consider improper through a unique
5-digit number easy to memorize : 33700
 targeting non-compliant service providers’ wallet, hence their business model
2

3. The 33700 project: The scope
 Covering all MNOs and MVNOs members of FFTelecoms – hence all their mobile clients:
 Reports are forwarded every night to:
- MNOs whose clients have reported a spam (either directly, or through clients of MVNOs)
- surcharged number operators that run target numbers
 Reporting made free of charge for all the clients of the FFTelecoms members (MNOs and MVNOs):
 Free reporting for all pre-paid and post-paid offers
 MNO members of the Federation:
 MVNO members of the Federation:
3

4. The 33700 project: A definition of SMS spams
First step: agreeing on a common definition of “SMS spams”*, i.e.:
 unwanted messages,
 reported as such by mobile clients,
 including “target numbers” (premium short codes / surcharged
voice numbers) to be called back**
* cf. details in annexes
** cf. “Glossary of terms” in annexes 4

5. The 33700 project: The reporting in a nutshell
Service provider
Operator
1 SMS sent by a service provider (fraudster when it is a spam)
2 Incriminated SMS forwarded by the client to 33700 - free of charge
3 Acknowledgment message by 33700 including a request to forward the sender’s number
4 Number of the sender sent by the customer (for a “complete report”) – free of charge
5 All incriminated messages sent to mobile and fixed operators (daily)
6 Analysis of the messages by the operators involved and implementation of countermeasures in case of infringement
5

6. The 33700 project: “Behind the scheme”
1
Automatic daily forward to:
 mobile operators whose clients have reported SMS spams
 operators of surcharged number (voice/short code) whose numbers
have been reported as target numbers
5
2
Actions taken against non-
compliant service providers:
 official warnings
 numbers shut down
 financial penalties WG in charge of the coordination
6
3
4
Analysis of the contents of the
reported SMS:
 dispatching to the departments involved
Transmission of the most fraudulent  “classification phase”, i.e. reviewing the
cases to public authorities contents with the contracts signed as well 6
as the deontological rules implemented

7. Outcomes of reports and actions
A highly useful tool including an observatory function in order to adapt
to incredibly nimble non-compliant service providers
 Qualitative evolution of messages considered as spams:
 Persistence of « Hi, it’s me… » messages
 Recent appearance of new forms of messages “Following your agreement, please call
back…” or “As agreed, please call back at the following number…”
 Adaptation of the messages to the period of the year (e.g.: Xmas, New Year’s Eve, joint
press conferences of the Federation,…)
 Blocking the marketing diversification clearly identified:
 Common actions impacted the “wallet” of the biggest non-compliant service providers
 Decision made to diversify their activities according to a basically rationale market logic
 Hence the actions taken by the Federation against vocal spams
 Transfer of fraudulent traffic by fraudsters from one operator to another:
 Traffic deviation recorded through the statistical tool developed by the 33700 platform
 Global campaign implemented by the Federation for its members in order to deter fraudsters
from transferring their traffic to other operators
 Smaller operators warned and appropriate actions taken
7

8. Diversifications in vocal spams…on both sides
Vocal spam frauds consist in making a client call back a surcharged number by different
methods:
 Making a client’s phone ring once or twice (not more) to suggest him/her to call back the
missed number which is a surcharged one
 Leaving a non-complete or sometimes complete vocal message on a voicemail box to
suggest him/her to call back the missed number which is a surcharged one
June 2010: Decision to open-up the reporting platform to this growing type of fraud
because of the diversification process by non-compliant service providers
With a reporting process adapted (only one SMS to be sent to report) nevertheless
using the same classification phase and resorting to the same countermeasures
within FFTelecoms
8

9. Cooperation to fight fraudulent traffic deviations
October November December January February March April May June
% Fixed operator 1 64 56 75 86 50 33 32 18 18
% Fixed operator 2 31 36 22 11 19 17 15 23 23
% Fixed operator 3 3 5 1 0 21 25 1 1 4
% Fixed operator 4 0 1 1 0 2 17 39 43 25
% Fixed operator 5 0 0 1 1 4 3 2 5 21
?
Consequences of direct actions taken within the 33700 WG
Fraudulent traffic deviations observed 9

10. Strong partnerships with public authorities
Possibility of action: new provisions aiming at
fighting against non-compliant service providers
National through the new European legal framework now
regulatory body transposed into French law
Ongoing reflections within the industry
ARCEP
Possibility of action: actions taken against non-
compliant service providers for fraud
Dedicated police Dpt. Criminal actions launched to get maximum media
coverage of potential convictions
OCLCTIC
Possibility of action: two-fold
National Dpt. for fair 1. Exerting administrative police powers through
competition and fight sectorial investigations
against fraud-abuse 2. Investigating on “unfair commercial practices”
(updated provisions in the new Consumption Code)
DGCCRF
10

11. Assessment of the 33700 global program
 Success of the 33700 scheme confirmed by the quantity and the quality of the
reporting made by clients (on SMS and vocal spams):
 On Jan. 31st: more than 3 million SMS spam reports
 with a rate of « complete reports » higher than 70%
 More than 2,000,000 of them identified as SMS spams with a “target number”
 On Jan. 31st: around 88,000 vocal spam reports
 Very strong commitment of the operators of the Federation to take legal and
financial actions based on these reports (on Jan. 31st):
 More than dozens of official warnings sent to non-compliant service providers identified
through the classification phase – every month
 More than 1,544 numbers shut down (both sender numbers and target numbers)
 Dozens of contract terminations decided for the worst situations
 Caution: Every action taken deals with several hundreds of reports,
even thousands of them, for the most significant cases.
Achievement of the basic objectives measurable through simple figures:
 Fewer and fewer clients call identified target numbers
 Some clearly identified non-compliant service providers encounter financial difficulties
 Caution: Frauds are less interesting, financially speaking, but the spamming
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phenomenon still exists since clients keep on being annoyed.

12. Free riding behaviors calling for an even
stronger collaboration
Market shares of fixed operators managing target numbers
reported to the 33700 PF
100
80
60
40
20
0
%Fixed operator member of FFTelecoms#1 %Fixed operator not member of FFTelecoms
%Fixed operator member of FFTelecoms#2 %Fixed operator member of FFTelecoms#3
12

13. Next steps based on stronger collaborations
Shutting down SIM cards which are
Upstream
fraudulently used to send SMS spams
Putting a stronger pressure on
Downstream non-compliant operators
through legal & sectorial actions
Recent creation of the association « SVA+ »
gathering both operators of surcharged numbers
and service providers around new commonly
agreed deontological rules
13

14. The 33700 project:
Actions & coordination potentially exportable?
The French initiative: real innovation through coordination and action
=> An efficient, cost-effective, user-friendly model to be exported?
1 2 3
- Contracts between operators
and service providers
- A blessing of the scheme by
antitrust authorities
A common A local coordination cell A local strong
reporting platform fixed/mobile operators legal framework
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15. Thank you for your attention!
WWW.fftelecoms.org

16. ANNEXES

17. The 33700 project: Which SMS to be addressed?
Personal Desired Undesired but useful Undesired Inappropriate and Scams, frauds
message commercial message/service message/service non desired
message clients message/service
(opt-in) previously
subscribed to
33700
17

18. The 33700 project: Key dates
 October 21st 2008: Joint press conference (French minister in charge of
consumption and industry / French Federation of Telecoms) to announce the launch
of the 33700 program and officially promote it
 November 15th 2008: Official launch of 33700 (dedicated number + platform)
 January 1st 2009: Creation of the information website www.33700-spam-sms.fr
 February 3rd 2009: 1st assessment of this innovative global scheme
 June 21st 2010: Joint press conference of the Federation and of the concerned
ministries to announce the opening-up of the platform to vocal spams reporting
 November 2010: More than one million SMS spams reported
 February 2011: more than 1,000 fraudulent target numbers shut down
 September 2011: More than 2 million SMS spams reported
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19. Surcharged services: A complex value chain
 Step 1 – the non-compliant service providers sends a SMS through wholesale contracts:
Wholesale contracts
Service
Foreign or French mobile operator Spammed final user
provider
 Step 2 – the client dials a target number which is a surcharged one:
Fixed or Service
mobile local Transit Service
operator Aggregators provider provider /
loop
(optional) (optional) Final
operator
user
Final user
 Step 2bis – the client dials a premium SMS short code:
SMS+
service
Mobile local
provider
Final user loop
operator 19

20. Different channels for premium numbers
SENDING NUMBER TARGET NUMBER
SIM cards
with unlimited plan
Replying through a
Premium SMS
short code (SMS+)
Premium SMS
short codes
Calling a surcharged
fixed number
Wholesale
platforms
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21. The 33700 platform: A sample of report files
Sender Sending Target MNO
Time Content of the reported spam
number number number
Example of a SMS spamming campaign
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22. Examples of most reported SMS spams
1. Messages asking for a call-back:
- You have 3 video messages on our interactive service. To get them, send READ by SMS at the 8XXXX
(3€+1SMS)
- You have 1 multimedia message not read. To view it, send OK by SMS at 8XXXX (4.5€+1SMS)
- ANNE has just left a vocal message. To get it and reply, call 0899XXXXXX message code XXXX
2. Interpersonal messages: “Hi, it’s me…” and their numerous variations:
- Hi, it’s me !I’m still waiting for your call. I hate when you don’t call back. Gimme a call at 0899XXXXXX
- It’s boring to send you an SMS you don’t answer! Call 0899XXXXXX code 84XXX and listen to my message,
you will understand why I am so insistent.
- You don’t pay attention to my messages even when I am insisting! You could at least listen to this message.
Call 0899XXXXXX code 84XXX I’ll explain you why I’m so insistent. 1.35€+0.34€/mn
- Someone is thinking about you but hesitates to make the first move. To know his/her identity and talk in live
with our medium, send OK to 82XXX (1.5€+1SMS)
3. Games and prizes:
You have been chosen at random at 9.56 AM and won the check n 409248! Call the 0899XXXXXX to know the
exact amount and to cash! Thank you ! (1.35€+0,34mn)
4. And few pornographic messages…
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23. 100000
200000
300000
400000
0
2008/11
2009/01
2009/03
2009/05
2009/07
2009/09
2009/11
2010/01
2010/03
2010/05
2010/07
2010/09
2010/11
2011/01
2011/03
2011/05
Assessment of the 33700 scheme:
2011/07
2011/09
Number of monthly reports of SMS spams
2011/11
23

24. 12000
16000
20000
4000
8000
0
juin-10
juil-10
aout-10
sept-10
oct-10
nov-10
déc-10
janv-11
févr-11
mars-11
avr-11
mai-11
juin-11
juil-11
août-11
sept-11
Assessment of the 33700 scheme:
oct-11
nov-11
Number of monthly reports of vocal spams
déc-11
24

25. Glossary of terms (1/2)
Phone number sending the message to the consumer.
Sender number This number is not transferred when the consumer sends his first message to
33.700, but when the second one is sent.
Personal The service provider opens a phone line with a mass-market service mobile
contract (mainly pre-paid services), offering unlimited SMS offers.
number Sending commercial SMS in large volume through this service is illegal.
Wholesale 5-digit number opened by a service provider for each French mobile operator
SMS number with a SMS wholesale/inter-carrier contract.
International Number opened by a service provider for a foreign mobile operator with a
wholesale SMS contract.
number
5-digit number which enables service providers to offer SMS services (aka
Premium SMS “SMS+”). With SMS+ services, only a sender’s alias is transferred to the
short code service provider.
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26. Glossary of terms (2/2)
Sent through SMS sent when the service provider has due access to the consumer number.
MSISDN
When an SMS premium service is used by the consumer: The mobile operator
Sent through provides a user ID (aka “alias”) instead of the client mobile number, which is
alias never transferred to the service provider. This alias is given for 3 months only.
Target number Surcharged number inside the SMS spam that the consumer is asked to dial.
Surcharged Number coming from the public numbering plan, dedicated to voice services
voice number only, charged at a premium rate above personal numbers.
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27. The 33700 project: The information website
www.33700-spam-sms.fr
Possibility to report on-line through the official websites of mobile operators
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