Contacted by website after viewing on iPhone

[LERsince1991]

Hi,

I received a load of advertisement messages the other day after visiting a torrent website, I did not consent to any of these but how the hell do they get contact details just by visiting via a phone?!

Thats all a bit worrying really!

How do they get contact details and also how can I stop this happening?
The messages were also not sent from a number (i assume) as they just appeared as a name in the message instead??

 

[heisenberg123]

they contacted you via the Messages app?

 

[LERsince1991]

they contacted you via the Messages app?

yeah the advertisement came through as a message with the sender as a name only (no number) to the messages app (as if a text or iMessage)

 

[heisenberg123]

these data miners are getting good

do you have you email setup as a way to send you an iMessage?

 

[Squilly]

Maybe it's coincidental and some advertiser sold your phone number to another.

 

[LERsince1991]

these data miners are getting good

do you have you email setup as a way to send you an iMessage?

Yes I am contactable via one email address and my mobile number.

Pretty sure its directly related.

Is is worth disabling that email address?

But even so, how did they get my phone number or email address without my consent?!

 

[dlemaymt]

It is impossible for a website in Safari to get your phone number or email address unless you explicitly provide it to them by typing it in. There is no API a website can use to gather this information.

If you have any complaints regarding spam over iMessage, please report it to Apple as they can take action against the spammer's iMessage account. Refer to this Apple support document for information on how to file a complaint: http://support.apple.com/kb/ht5821

 

[NoBoMac]

As others said, spamming iMessage is really no different than spam e-mail, and really easy to do:

http://www.macworld.com/article/259...essage-spam-not-all-its-cracked-up-to-be.html

(the second section of the article is the key one)

 

[LERsince1991]

There must be otherwise I wouldn't have gotten the messages.

Can they get them if the user presses a disguised button?
or would the user have to specifically type the number/ email in? (no I didn't)

Something to do with ip address or cookies?

 

[afsnyder]

There must be otherwise I wouldn't have gotten the messages.

Can they get them if the user presses a disguised button?
or would the user have to specifically type the number/ email in? (no I didn't)

Something to do with ip address or cookies?

Which site is this? How did you get there?

 

[GoCubsGo]

There must be otherwise I wouldn't have gotten the messages.

Can they get them if the user presses a disguised button?
or would the user have to specifically type the number/ email in? (no I didn't)

Something to do with ip address or cookies?

I don't think so. I don't think your e-mail address or phone number could be obtained by just visiting a website. It has never happened to me but that says very little.

 

[dlemaymt]

Re: MacWorld article: Yes, it is possible to use iMessage to spam. However, there is a very big difference compared to email: anyone can send an email to anyone whereas only people who have an Apple ID or an iPhone with a validated phone number may send iMessages. That makes it possible for Apple to take action against a spammer.

Re: LERsince1991: No, there isn't. There simply is no feature in HTML or JavaScript allowing the capture of such information. It cannot be obtained through your IP address or cookies either. The only thing I could see would be to use the Facebook API to get this data, but you would have to (1) have your contact information in your Facebook profile, (2) be logged in to the Facebook mobile website in Safari and (3) allow Facebook to share your information with another website.

 

[afsnyder]

Re: MacWorld article: Yes, it is possible to use iMessage to spam. However, there is a very big difference compared to email: anyone can send an email to anyone whereas only people who have an Apple ID or an iPhone with a validated phone number may send iMessages. That makes it possible for Apple to take action against a spammer.

Re: LERsince1991: No, there isn't. There simply is no feature in HTML or JavaScript allowing the capture of such information. It cannot be obtained through your IP address or cookies either. The only thing I could see would be to use the Facebook API to get this data, but you would have to (1) have your contact information in your Facebook profile, (2) be logged in to the Facebook mobile website in Safari and (3) allow Facebook to share your information with another website.

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